Head to head · unusually close flavour match
The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask 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 £257 for The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask | 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 | 40% ABV | 43% ABV |
| Cask | Ex-bourbon American oak, Oloroso sherry-seasoned American oak | Sherry-seasoned European oak |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £72 | £340 |
| Per 10cl | £10 | £49 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £257 | £1130 |
| Chill-filtered | Not stated | Not stated |
What separates them
Both distilled at the same distillery, so house style is held constant.
The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) states 18 years, 6 more on paper.
Cask as each producer describes it: The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask in ex-bourbon american oak and oloroso sherry-seasoned american oak, The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) in sherry-seasoned european oak.
Neither states chill filtration.
Colour: The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask silent, The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) natural colour.
The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) is £268 dearer a bottle than The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask.
Strength keeps that ordering: £257 a litre of pure alcohol for The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask against £1130.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask is 29th cheapest and The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) the dearest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask | The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release) |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 0 | 0 |
| Sweet | 7 | 7 |
| Fruity | 6 | 6 |
| Spicy | 4 | 5 |
| Woody | 5 | 7 |
| Sherried | 7 | 9 |
| Cereal | 4 | 4 |
| Oily | 6 | 8 |
No axis reaches the 3-point gap we call meaningful. Widest is woody, 5 against 7.
Identical on peaty, sweet, fruity and cereal.
Each bottle in its own right
The Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask
Butterscotch, orange and a dry oak finish. Polished and very easy to like.
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 Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask for gift and introduction to sherry cask, 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 Macallan 12 Year Old Double Cask and The Macallan Sherry Oak 18 Years Old (2025 Release): themacallan.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.