Head to head · unusually close flavour match
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old vs The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release)
These two are not in the same bracket: £1130 a litre of pure alcohol for The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) against £166 for The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old | The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Single malt | Single malt |
| Origin | Speyside, Scotland | Speyside, Scotland |
| Age | 12 years | 18 years |
| Strength | 43% ABV | 43% ABV |
| Cask | Ex-bourbon barrel, Oloroso sherry butt | Sherry-seasoned European oak |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £50 | £340 |
| Per 10cl | £7.14 | £49 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £166 | £1130 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Both Speyside whiskies, from different distilleries.
The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) states 18 years, 6 more on paper.
Cask as each producer describes it: The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old in ex-bourbon barrel and oloroso sherry butt, The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) in sherry-seasoned european oak.
Neither states chill filtration.
Colour: The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old silent, The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) natural colour.
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) is £290 dearer a bottle than The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old.
Strength keeps that ordering: £166 a litre of pure alcohol for The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old against £1130.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old is 22nd cheapest and The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) the dearest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old | The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 0 | 0 |
| Sweet | 8 | 7 |
| Fruity | 6 | 6 |
| Spicy | 4 | 5 |
| Woody | 5 | 7 |
| Sherried | 6 | 9 |
| Cereal | 5 | 4 |
| Oily | 6 | 8 |
Furthest apart on sherried, 6 against 9. 1 of the eight axes clears 3 points: sherried.
Identical on peaty and fruity.
Each bottle in its own right
The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old
Honey, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sweet without being cloying, and 43% helps.
Full record →The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release)
Dense dried fruit, clove and old leather. Magnificent, and priced accordingly.
Sold as a dated annual release, not a continuous bottling — Macallan catalogues 2018, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 as separate products, so the spec must be re-checked per release.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old for gift and after dinner, The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) for occasion bottle and sherry-cask benchmark.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for The Balvenie DoubleWood 12 Year Old and The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release): thebalvenie.com, themacallan.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.