Speyside MaCallan 17 Year Old:

Today we get to experience something we've always wondered about. What would a CS first fill sherry butt Macallan taste like? Well, signatory has done just that for us, and for a lot less than an exceptional cask.
Cask #12 from The Whisky Barrel this one comes in at 57.5%.
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[@KnickKiller]

I was contemplating pulling the trigger on this but passed. Sounds like I made the right call for my palate.

[@langtoun8235]

Me too, thanks for another great review guys.

[@topshelfwhisky]

I wanted to get this out sooner, but we had a few backlogged.

[@NeilImmortal]

The "DRU" cask number is an Eddrington number, not a Signatory one, unless they are forced to keep that naming system? Could be they bought the caks from Macallan and stored them elsewhere? The (sherry) Cask Strength Series are all pretty good, but tend to overwhelm with that sherry, if you are looking for distinct distillery flavours these might not be your bottlings.

[@duncs3850]

If you can find the secret speyside 14yr, it’s bourbon hogshead 63.3%, I’m not a Mac fan at all but for an unsherried Mac it’s fantastic

[@user-zj2sn1pl5b]

I try a sample of the Signatory Secret speyside 17M #3, pure sherry whisky nose, warm texture. And the finishing was really surprised me , very long, maybe up 3 minutes or more. Now I have few bottles of#12, #18,#50, I think it can be a learning sample for whisky rookies(like me)to know what flavor of Macallan 1st fill sherry cask is . And the price is resonable for macallan( not for me). Haha

[@stevelandwonder4760]

Up to 50 casks of these if the numbers are consecutive. Twelve posted to Whiskybase so far. £132 and up in the UK.

[@DonnerPassWhisky]

Awesome guys. Been seeing people in the UK showing pictures of these recently.

[@topshelfwhisky]

It's a great looking whisky. Rich color, high abv

[@DonnerPassWhisky]

@@topshelfwhisky 😆🤣

[@peterwhite507]

Great review! I saw this bottle in Alberta but passed when a Speymalt 21 year Macallan Sherry cask 57.1% from G&M popped up. Was quite a bit more than the Signatory but what the hell.

[@topshelfwhisky]

Nice! How was it, Peter

[@peterwhite507]

@@topshelfwhisky Have not opened it yet but based on Whisky in the 6 and Social Sippers Club it is excellent. Will get around to it soon enough.

[@topshelfwhisky]

@@peterwhite507 it’s that one, nice!

[@alfocrown]

i would like to say the modern seasoned sherry cask is hard to recreate the nostalgic old Macallan cask strength.

[@topshelfwhisky]

As a younger man, that was a bottling I took for granted. $88 in Columbus and always available. I remember having a debate with a coworker of mine, as to what was the better value between that and the 18 year @ $169

[@alfocrown]

@@topshelfwhisky 88 with higher proof, no way 18yo got better value than that

[@pharmacistsdoitoverthecoun5012]

I picked up the Secret Speyside 58.1% M version in Germany. Haven't cracked it open yet.

[@sugarkitty4777]

So the worst of Springbank and the worst of Ardbeg, and it doesn't even address the metallic tang like the worst of Bowmore? It sounds like the only thing that justifies a high $180 price is the ABV. Personally I'll stick with better 46-48% 18 yr olds in the $125 range. But glad you scratched the itch of a non-distillery Macallan.

[@topshelfdustin3060]

I'd say this one is all about how much you like Signatory's sherry cask selection. If that's your jam the price makes sense.

[@topshelfwhisky]

I agree with Dustin on this, if you really enjoy Signatory’s sherry, you will enjoy this.

[@bunkerbusterexplore]

Sounds like you prefer famous grouse. lol. Stick to your beer my friend.

[@Houman7]

Never had Macallan by Signatory but I’ve had few Speymalt and also tried few Macallan Exceptional Single Casks in some tasting. Long story short they are all somewhere around 86 to 90 and absolutely not worth the price tags. Dustin getting me into Kavalan Solist might be one reason I don’t really enjoy Macallan like before.

[@topshelfwhisky]

I have wondered about the MaCallan EC's. They are quite expensive... I could not agree more regarding Kavalan. That was worth the friendship alone ;)

[@Houman7]

@@topshelfwhisky They are very expensive, I paid about 600$ to try 4 of them in one of their tasting along some food here in Bay Area last year and at the end they offered us a chance to buy a bottle starting 2800$ for a 13 year old ESC up to like 6 grand for the 22 year old one. They were all great but for fraction of cost you could go get Kavalan Solist or older better GlenDronach single casks.

[@topshelfwhisky]

@@Houman7 Kavalan is it for sure.

[@heavybaked]

I've got bottle 262!

[@topshelfwhisky]

what do you think of it?

[@keithpetersen560]

Is this exclusively matured in oloroso or finished in it? I ask because, I have a Signatory Mortlach 11 yr finished in fresh sherry for 13 months and its OK. Your thoughts on this bottle are my thoughts on my G&M Speymalt Macallan 19 yr cask strength. I paid $300, its good but not outstanding and not worth the $300. IMO, if you want classic Macallan, you have to buy the Mac 18's distilled in the 1990's, the purple boxes I believe. Unfortunately they command to much money. Great review.

[@stevelandwonder4760]

They're all first fill oloroso.

[@topshelfdustin3060]

Yep first fill. Exclusive aging.

[@michaellambright7968]

I've been watching these on The Whisky Barrel -- some casks are priced higher, I wanna say like $225 vs. $175. Any idea why?

[@topshelfwhisky]

I know of at least two very similar releases . My guess is they’re just that. Different casks.

[@topshelfdustin3060]

Seems there's a bit of markup starting to happen on select casks.

[@YoJimBo851610]

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