Run! Dont Walk! Part 3: To the Internet, Chixgirl!

When last we left our heroine, the trail of the Kirkland Signature 18-Year-Old Single Malt Scotch From Macallan Distillery ("Kirkland Macallan 18" for short) had grown cold. She had returned to the Chix-cave dejected but not defeated. Knowing she needed additional resources, upon arriving back our valiant Scotch Chick broadcast an S.O.S. to single malt superheroes world wide - she posted on Whisky Magazine's forum asking others to search for Kirkland Macallan 18. 

The responses were interesting. It appears the Wall Street Journal was operating from old information. Not a single person had seen Kirkland Macallan 18 on the shelf in quite some time. However, Kirkland Macallan 18 has existed. CA Scotch Chick even received a generous offer from a Scotch Gent in Northern California to come on up and taste an open bottle he had.

Through the responses, CA Scotch Chick also learned that there is a Kirkland Macallan 19 available at Costco in the UK (and that there are Costcos in both the UK and Taiwan!). In addition, one of the members of the forum reported that Trader Joe's also bottles and sells a version of The Macallan 18 (when CA Scotch Chick checked, however, she discovered that the San Diego Trader Joe's had not had it in a couple of years). Finally, and most importantly, CA Scotch Chick discovered that there is a catch – a bottle of The Macallan by any other name may not smell (or taste) as sweet (sincerest apologies to Mr. Shakespeare). 

Let's look at the bottling process for single malt whisky for a moment. (A Scotch Chick dons her little black business suit, red stiletto heels, half glasses, and takes her place at the lectern.) When a whisky is distilled, matured in casks, and finally available for bottling, it can make its way as a single malt whisky to the shelf of one's local liquor store a number of ways. The original distillery can bottle the whisky – this is known as an OB (Official Bottling or Original Distillery Bottling), or they can sell the casks to another company who then bottles the whisky – this is known as an Independent Bottling (IB). Kirkland Macallan 18 would be considered an IB. A couple of other brands the Scotch Chix have reviewed recently also fall into this category: Eades and Signatory.

So, what is the rub? It is still whisky made from casks containing The Macallan 18. Shouldn't it taste the same? Well, there are a couple of issues here. Unless a bottling is drawn from one single cask, aptly called a Single Cask Bottling, it is a mixture (or vatting) of the contents of several casks. As a single malt whisky, these casks would all be from the same distillery, but they would not necessarily be from the same distillations. This variation along with the influences of the individual casks create a slightly different taste in each cask of whisky. It is the job of a Master Blender to marry these different tastes into a consistent product. Part of the beauty of single malt whisky is that although there are batch variations, the OB versions are, in fact, pretty constant - rather an amazing feat. 

Now we start to see why the IB's might not taste the same as an OB. Not only are the Independent Bottlers, like Kirkland, limited to the casks that the distilleries are willing to sell to them, a different Master Blender, one that does not necessarily have all the secrets that the Master Blender working for the OB has, will be in charge of the bottling. Consequently, although an IB of The Macallan 18 might be very very good, it will probably not taste exactly like an OB of The Macallan 18.

In addition, whisky doesn't always spend all of its time in the same cask. It is sometimes transferred to another cask somewhere along the maturation process. In fact, as we learned in our review of Eades, sometimes IB's change casks after they receive the product from the distillery. 

In the case of Kirkland Macallan 18, although the OB of the traditional version The Macallan 18 is exclusively sherry casked, spending its entire maturation time in a sherry oak casks from Jerez, Spain, Kirkland's brand is sherry finished, spending the majority of its life in American oak bourbon casks and then finishing its maturation in American oak sherry casks for approximately 6 months. Consequently, the Kirkland Macallan 18 would definitely not taste like the traditional version of The Macallan 18. It might bear some resemblance to The Macallan Fine Oak 18, which is triple casked in both European and American oak sherry casks and in an American oak bourbon cask, but the Scotch Chix have not yet obtained samples to make the comparison.

So, does this mean an IB product is inferior? Certainly not. There are some fantastic Independent Bottlers out there, and a budding Scotch Chick or Gent should explore them. One simply should not assume that the IB will taste like the OB. 

And, what about Kirkland Macallan 18? Well, the Scotch Chix still have no reports of any shelf sitings; however, folks on Whisky Mag's forum say that the stuff when one can obtain it is pretty darn good. Keep an eye out for it Loyal Scotch Chix Fans and shoot us an email if it ever appears again.