Top 5 Scotch Whisky Alternatives CHEAPER Than Macallan 18 Year

[@bdwilcox]

Macallan is like that girl you're totally smitten with. She looks great, she smells great, everyone says how much they'd love to be with her. Then you finally bring her out on an expensive date and the conversation is as exciting as cardboard.

[@christinecamley]

lol! Interesting comparison! Hopefully you are a good conversationalist! lol! I hear you! I was looking forward to trying this Macallan for the first time and what a disappointment. I tend to stick to Islay peated scotch or Peated from another region like Talisker. Much safer even if it costs more.

[@cascode1192]

Good calls with GlenDronach 21 and Tamdhu 18. They’re not just alternatives to Macallan 18, I’d call them outright better whiskies. Macallan’s glory days are long past and considering the huge amount of whisky they produce their modern prices are absurd. Glenfarclas 25 rates inclusion in the list of alternatives as well, as does Aberlour 18, and for some palates Dalmore 18.

[@whiskywhereabouts]

No question. Better and cheaper. Cheers.

[@startrek889]

How about Glendronach 18 and Highland Park 18 compare to The Macallan 18?

[@chrisruth7057]

​@@whiskywhereaboutsat least 65% to mybe 70% of 21 year olds are cheaper than the Macallen 18 even a couple to mybe 3 single malt 25 year olds are cheaper at least in Canada🇨🇦 cause it's 744$ now in Canada🇨🇦 which is definitely overpriced by at about 250$ to mybe 275$ to high

[@21st-century-business]

Another quality piece of content, love these suggestions

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Much appreciated!

[@marcogranja6046]

Great one video, hails from Ecuador south américa!!!

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Thanks for watching!

[@khaldounsamman9128]

Over-priced is an understatement. It's absolutely insane!

[@Holydecipher]

It’s a scotch for people that have no clue about scotch 😄 But they generate money, so fair play. Apparently there is a market for that. Cheeky but honest British company. Love it!

[@kirbycalgary2844]

Enjoying your video the double cast here in Calgary is $675 Canadian it is so stupid

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Wow. That's something.

[@leannesmith8206]

Nice video cheers. Even better here in New Zealand if you’re prepared to search the liquor stores you can still find the odd Billy walker 18,2017 bottles and the 2018 Billy walker parliament bottles,which both contain older whisky and are NCF for 300 and 350 respectively. The Macallan 18 is priced anywhere from 550 to 690 madness.

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Thanks! Macallan's inflated prices appear to be a global phenomenon...

[@khaldounsamman9128]

I'd also add Glenfarclas 25. In the midwest USA I can get it for $180 USD.

[@whiskywhereabouts]

A very good price for a classic Speyside sherry.

[@chrisruth7057]

​@@whiskywhereaboutsThat's a amazing deal👍

[@vikaswanchoo8593]

Thank you Mister.

[@thewhiskyscribe]

All great alternatives. What bothers me so much about MacAllan is with how ridiculously they’ve increased / industrialised their facility, they’re one of the few distilleries that are in a position to reduce their prices. The cost per litre of production would be so much lower than the next largest distillery in Scotland.

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Thanks, Nath! I guess it could be argued that the expansion was only complete about 6 years ago, so they don't have all the whisky they've produced since then ready to go to market, but these Macallan prices seem to work independently of supply and demand (even, and maybe especially, the NAS expressions).

[@christinecamley]

Greed is a world wide issue. It would take masses and masses of consumers to stop buying overpriced single malt scotch. Ardbeg is another distillery that overcharges. Because many people can and do keep paying the hiked up prices distilleries or stores (who does set the price?) charge exorbitant prices. I am very careful now which expression I buy. I don’t want to get a dud - not at the horrific prices.

[@georges617]

Very nice selection. :) Here in Germany, you can get both an anCnoc 24 and a Glendronach Parliament for the price of a single Macallan 18 Double Cask. That tells you all you need to know about Macallan in this day and age. Yeah, it's a very good whisky, but I could never justify its price to performance ratio. And yet, many media outlets keep pushing that marketing narrative of "Macallan is the Rolls-Royce of whiskies", as if Macallan are producing the world's best scotch. Does that annoy you too?

[@whiskywhereabouts]

That's incredible. And I thought it was overpriced in the US ...

[@hansklaus3959]

I bought the Glendronach Parliament for 70€ about ten years ago and it used to be much better than nowadays, so I'd say that it's definitely also overpriced these days.

[@fusemunk]

Balblair whisky is up there. Also some Arran single cask Sherry whiskies that may only be 10-12 years old are up there for a lot less money.

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Both good distilleries offering much better value. Cheers!

[@larachan-baker188]

Loved this! Thanks so much. I've been looking at the Tamdhu 15 - how would that fare as an alternative to the Macallan 18? Conscious it's going to be different, but would love your thoughts on how it might compare as a more budget option :)

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Properly presented Tamdhu is a rich dram at less than 1/2 the price ...

[@peterwhite507]

Ancnoc 24 is $230 Cad in Alberta, Macallan 18 is $800 Cad. The 2023 Ancnoc 24 seems more sherried than previous years and by all accounts destoys Mac 18. I also would add in the new Arran 18 as an alternative, although seems to disappear off the shelf very quickly.

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Yeah, that Arran's a great choice, but not available everywhere. Cheers.

[@canal-do-guga-namura]

I’m commenting before watching but this must have been the easiest video ever to come up. I would like to see a video showing whiskies more expensive than the Macallan 18, that would be almost impossible to pull off.

[@McIntyresMalts]

The Tamdhu is about as close an alternative as you can find to Macallan, and it's actually better quality

[@whiskywhereabouts]

At a much better price ...

[@graham2954]

I like putting the boot into Macallan as much as anyone but you have to like that they don't colour their products, despite it now being a premium product and outside the realm of the everyday drinker. We compared a Macallan 18yo against a Glendronach 18yo at my whisky club and while the Macallan was the better whisky but glendronach was better value for money. When I worked pubs in Scotland in the 1980's Macallan was the go to malt for everyone. I'm a total Tamdhu fanboy and might suggest we compare tamdhu, glendronach and Macallan 18yo.

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Tamdhu has really stepped up to fill the space Macallan has priced itself out of.

[@christinecamley]

It’s sad that we credit distillers for not putting added colour in scotch or chill filter their products. Every distillery or companies like Diageo should be bottling with integrity.

[@toddcraw4127]

If you can get a hold of any of the G&M Speymalts or the Signatory vintage speyside 17 (m) you will find out that Macallan actually makes amazing spirit. However, their modern presentation leaves a lot to be desired. I have no interest in any of the Macallan OB releases now. The independent bottlers are doing God‘s work though.

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Good point, and likely to give you a better presentation at a better price as well.

[@peterwhite507]

Agree, the Speymalt 2000/2021 57.1% was around $400 Cad when I purchased it. Has gone up a couple hundred since then (due to demand) but compared to the Mac 18, pathetic 43% price, a no brainer.

[@chongkokchoyify]

What do you think of Speyburn 18? Not top 5, but a possible contender as well?

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Incredible value by comparison, definitely near the top of any list based on cheapest alternatives.

[@eyemallears2647]

If it’s not peated it might as well be gin.

[@fusemunk]

Macallan increased it's price maybe because it saw the price triple on the open market and thought maybe we need to make that money - just saying - it is owned by a Charity.

[@canal-do-guga-namura]

You didn’t mention the price of the Tamdhu 18. It should be almost caught to Macallan’s by now.

[@whiskywhereabouts]

It's no bargain, but I see it usually going for about $75 less than the Mac 18. Cheers!

[@lenso010]

what about mortlach 16 ?

[@whiskywhereabouts]

It's definitely cheaper (likely 1/3 of the price), so a relative bargain, even if it's held back by its equally weak presentation.

[@lenso010]

@@whiskywhereabouts thank you 🙏🏻

[@barryhamilton7845]

Springbank 18 AcCnoc 18 Ledaig 18 Loch Lomond 18

[@whiskywhereabouts]

Mac 18 is really overpriced, but if you can get Springbank 18 for less, you're doing really well. Cheers!

[@barryhamilton7845]

@whiskywhereabouts Yeah I can get it usually in Scotland for rrp and worse case senario ,il pay the £180- £200 for it at auction on occasions when i cant get it from shops,but that's still cheaper than a chill filtered overpriced whisky.👍🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿