A lovely little bunch of Macduffs of all sorts


March 12, 2026

A lovely little bunch of Macduffs of all sorts

This time we’re going to proceed randomly once again, for a bit more fun. The ones that had really impressed us in their day were Duncan Taylor’s 1968 and 1969, but alas! we no longer have any left to taste. We are, of course, in Speyside, and Macduff was said to mean William Lawson’s, the blend preferred by Sharon Stone. Well, at least in the old adverts… It’s also Deveron, or Glen Deveron, but we won’t have any of those today.

Macduff 26 yo 1997/2024 (47.9%, Murray McDavid, Mission Gold, oloroso + Pauillac finish, 484 bottles)

A bold marriage of two casks, one finished in oloroso and the other in Pauillac. Let us see which will dominate, the flor, the palomino, the French oak or the cabernet sauvignon… Colour: very ripe mirabelle plum. Nose: very much on gunflint, blackcurrant buds, green walnut and damson tart at first, with a pleasant dusting of ground cinnamon over the top. The Pauillac is frankly dominating, yet a certain harmony has been found. Touches of fresh mint then become more and more noticeable. Mouth: much less winey, clearly more malty on the palate, with orange marmalade taking the whole ensemble under its wing, complemented by grey pepper and capsicum, still rather typical of Bordeaux. Finish: rather long, creamy, coherent, on Campari and orange, with a high proportion of Campari. Pepper and blackcurrant dominate the aftertaste. Comments: a fine bitterness in this admittedly improbable marriage, yet a successful one we think.
SGP: 561 - 85 points.

Let’s move on to a classic cask…

Macduff 18 yo 2007/2026 (48.9%, Scout Drinks, hogshead, cask #800220, 210 bottles)

The first bottlings of 2026 are arriving on our tasting table… Colour: gold. Nose: very lovely wafts of lime blossom, lime blossom infusion, marzipan, then candied cherry and kirsch. A light touch of hops. The whole works perfectly on the nose, with a fresh and cheerful profile. Zippy indeed. Mouth: we find again the malty and marmalade side of the previous one, but here we are much more on pale turrón, orange cake, kirsch and salted butter caramel, with also a little tobacco. Small touches of rubber wood, perfectly in their place here. We find this very good. Finish: long, more on citrus fruits and pepper, with a rather oily texture, close to a honey of… lime blossom. A rooty side in the aftertaste. Comments: excellent, rather rich in the end, yet with that zippy character running throughout.
SGP: 651 - 88 points.

Macduff 11 yo 2011/2023 (50%, High Spirits, Longvalley Selection, 1st fill oloroso finish, cask #900342, 404 bottles)

A bottle for our friends in Switzerland. Colour: full gold. Nose: amusingly, it is a little calmer than the previous one, with a rather lightly marked 1st fill oloroso side, yet with very pleasant notes of vegetable oils (sesame, sunflower) and amaretti. Also some forest honey (honeydew). With water: a little more leather and walnuts, that should be the sherry. Mouth (neat): the sherry is more pronounced on the palate, but it is strongly balanced by orange marmalade and dried figs. Very good. With water: closer to the Scout Drinks, which is inevitably good news. Finish: fairly long, once again quite oily and honeyed, with a comet-like tail on pepper and perhaps two or three drops of orangeade. It is not unheard of. Comments: yet another excellent young Macduff.
SGP: 651 - 87 points.

Macduff 10 yo 2006/2017 (56.5%, Single Cask Collection, bourbon, cask #101730, 309 bottles)

One of those malts that we should have tasted earlier. The photograph is that of another Macduff from the same very attractive range. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: even prettier, fresher, naturally much closer to barley, limestone, clay, fresh vanilla and flint… In short, this is a magnificent young malt in its natural state. With water: slightly rounder citrus fruits, on bergamot and kumquat (always a hit in the Netherlands). Mouth (neat): very lovely, apple, lemon, peanut oil, chalk, angelica, plum eau-de-vie… With water: the purity of aged barley spirit, not flavoured ones. Because there is a difference, is there not. Finish: long, sharper, lemony, tangy, very lovely. Comments: a superb counterpoint to the previous one, the two are very lovely. Macduff indeed!
SGP: 661 - 87 points.

Macduff 13 yo 2011/2014 (52.8%, Valinch & Mallet, Young Masters Edition, Tokaji cask, cask #800012, 300 bottles)

As you know, Tokaji wines can be more or less sweet or extremely luscious, and in the latter case the use of the casks for whisky maturation or finishing can be rather acrobatic. We remember for example a Laphroaig in tokay that had been quite horrible, not to say undrinkable. But here this is Macduff, so let us proceed… Besides, we have complete confidence in the house of Valinch & Mallet. Colour: full gold. Nose: for the moment nothing clashes, one might even say that the very aromatic fruitiness of the Tokaji and the richness of the Macduff dance rather well together. Plum jam, quince jelly, aromatic honey… With water: more honey and rose water. Mouth (neat): a side of viognier, sauternes, muscat… and tokay. Rose liqueur, lychee, then pepper, thyme and tobacco. We shall need a little water to relax this slightly on the palate. With water: it works, bringing out pepper from the mill but also strawberry jam. Finish: pepper and strawberries, almost like a cocktail. Comments: less pure and clear than the others, yet it remains excellent despite the slightly improbable nature of the marriage. Tokay in whisky is rather the equivalent of a triple backflip in figure skating, in our opinion.
SGP: 642 - 84 points.

Macduff 15 yo 2009/2024 (55.2%, Lady of the Glen, 1st fill PX finish, cask #4089, 271 bottles)

Colour: gold. Nose: it works, it is nicely caramelised, with pleasant raisins, dates and dried figs, gingerbread and candied oranges… Yes, this works. With water: damp earth begins to emerge, humus, fallen leaves… Mouth (neat): orange marmalade in full force, then pepper and very mineral touches, gunflint, gunpowder, bitter chocolate… With water: ginger and turmeric arrive. Ginger can sometimes be like a dog in a game of skittles. Finish: long, more spicy, more peppery. Comments: prety good, just a little tiring, as is very often the case in the presence of PX. Let us say it is not quite our favourite style. The most recent LotG have been clearly superior in our view.
SGP: 661 - 79 points.

Macduff 16 yo 2008/2025 (62.8%, Alambic Classique, 1st fill oloroso sherry butt, cask #25015, 469 bottles)

They are rather strong on sherry at Alambic. Colour: full gold. Nose: pure caramel, brown beer, dark nougat and maple syrup. Not much to criticise here, it is very solid. With water: with water, earthy notes and even mosses and mushrooms come dancing beneath your nostrils, in addition to the rest of course. Morels and truffles. Mouth (neat): ah, very lovely, Turkish coffee, dark honeys, peppers and blackcurrant jelly, though without the cabernet side, naturally. With water: ta-da… pumpernickel! Obviously, as if by chance, the bottler happens to be Germanic… Finish: long, drier, both rich and austere at the same time. Comments: but who could object to truffles and morels in their whisky? Do be careful though, reduction is delicate here, it may snap. Be progressive…
SGP: 462 - 88 points.

Macduff 16 yo 2008/2025 (66.7%, Milroy’s, Vintage Sherry Reserve, third-fill sherry butt, cask # 130900362)

Frankly, we rather love the designation ‘third-fill sherry butt’. Who has ever seen a fourth-fill? We do not know whether the almost lethal bottling strength here is related to that status, but in our view it is not impossible. Colour: amber, though where exactly does that colour come from? Nose: bourbon with strawberries and bananas. Forget that, this strength is indeed lethal, we shall add water immediately, even though we have a very positive feeling about it. With water: forest floor, fallen leaves and, above all, Havana cigar. A magnificent nose. Mouth (neat): magnificent, but we shall leave it at that. Oils and extracts, we might say, almost essential oils. Very powerful salted butter caramel. With water: humus, black earth, tobacco and foliage, including bay leaf, come rushing in. The bay leaf is rather massive and, to be honest, unbalances the whole a little. Finish: long and very peppery. Comments: we really like it a lot, but it is just a little tricky to follow, with a rather challenging finish, as they would say on Bloomberg (what?).
SGP: 362 - 84 points.

Come on then, one last little Macduff, an older one…

Macduff 33 yo 1991/2024 (55.1%, The Whisky Blues, butt, cask #4587, 198 bottles)

Once again the label is superb, what’s more we find those beacons of humanity named Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Trump and Schubert. Find the odd one out… Colour: full gold. Nose: the age does not show on the nose, it is fresh, lightly honeyed and caramelised, continuing with nougat and quality maple syrup. Light earthy wafts, quite beautiful. With water: malt and waxes. That is perfect. Mouth (neat): winner of the session. Teas, herbal infusions and honeys, in perfect synchrony. Surprising touches of seaweed of the wakame kind. With water: wait, is this Clynelish? Finish: we are joking, but you see what we mean. The finish is nevertheless a little less transcendent, drier and more herbal. Boom, one point less, dura lex sed lex. Comments: a perfect illustration that nothing can replace time as the principal ingredient of a matured spirit, all the more so with whisky, whose raw material is rather a little simple. Well, we are rambling again, we are afraid…
SGP: 551 - 90 points.

They’re all lovely, these little Macduffs, aren’t they? Even the very sherried versions didn’t show those slightly over-gunpowdery notes that can sometimes appear when combined with this distillate. You will also have noticed that we nevertheless refrained from tasting any William Lawson’s, as in the end it was neither the place nor the time.

Check the index of all Macduff we've tasted