Amber is the second tier of The Macallan's 1824 Series, the colour-graded range introduced in 2012 to replace the entry-level age statements of the Sherry Oak line. The naming convention took its cue from the natural colour drawn from sherry-seasoned European and American oak, the casks for which are made to Macallan's specification in Spain and seasoned for several years before filling.
Bottled at 40%, Amber sits a step above Gold in both colour and weight. The proportion of older and more heavily sherry-influenced casks is greater, and the result is a noticeably fuller dram, though still pitched towards the gentler end of the Macallan spectrum.
The nose offers dried apple, vanilla and a soft toffee note, with sultana and a faint dusting of cinnamon emerging as it opens. On the palate it is rounder than Gold — raisin, honey, orange marmalade and malt, with a gentle baking-spice warmth that hints at the European oak. The finish runs to a medium length, drying lightly with raisin and oak tannin.
Amber is an honest middle-of-the-road Macallan: less demanding than the Sienna and Ruby above it, more substantial than Gold below. Whether it represents value against the older 12 Year Old Sherry Oak it effectively replaced is a matter long debated by Macallan drinkers, but on its own merits it is a well-made, easy-going Speyside sherry malt that sits comfortably in the glass and asks little of the drinker. The water of life, as Roderick Kemp's old distillery on the banks of the Spey would have it, was never meant to be a wholly cerebral pursuit, and Amber serves the more sociable end of that bargain perfectly well.
