The 1824 Series — Gold, Amber, Sienna, Ruby — was unveiled by The Macallan in 2012 as a replacement for the entry tier of its age-stated Sherry Oak range. The decision was contentious. For decades the distillery had built its reputation on age statements drawn exclusively from sherry-seasoned oak; the move to a colour-graded, no-age-statement (NAS) line-up was framed as a celebration of the natural colour imparted by the wood, but it was also a response to dwindling stocks of mature sherry-cask whisky.
Gold sits at the foot of the range. Bottled at 40%, it is drawn from a parcel of younger sherry-seasoned European and American oak casks, and the colour — a pale straw — is presented as evidence that no caramel has been added.
The nose is light and unassuming: vanilla, citrus peel, green apple and a faint suggestion of ginger. The palate follows suit, soft and undemanding, with orange peel, malt biscuit, a touch of raisin and a gentle wash of oak spice. The finish is short and clean, fading without much fuss.
It is a perfectly competent dram, and on its own terms there is nothing wrong with it. The difficulty is the comparison it invites. Macallan's old 10 Year Old Sherry Oak — Gold's most obvious predecessor — was a denser, richer thing, and Gold inevitably feels diminished beside it. Taken simply as an introduction to the house style, however, it does its job politely enough, and as a first encounter with sherry-cask Speyside it is pitched gently enough not to overwhelm the newcomer. The pricing positions it well below the older Sherry Oak bottlings that the 1824 Series replaced, and on those terms it makes a reasonable case for itself as an everyday dram, even if it lacks the depth that drew so many to the distillery in the first place.
