An apt way to start 2021, another barrel of the incredible Speymalt Macallan from Gordon & Macphail. This time we've secured a first-fill sherry hogshead at the perfect age of 18 years. Macallan aged full term in quality first-fill sherry at cask strength is unheard of outside of the "Exceptional Cask" series. That luxurious line of malts offered by the distillery includes a single 2001 aged in American Oak Sherry Puncheon bottled in 2019, which retailed for a cool $1500. We were generously allocated one bottle, which sold promptly of course. You'll be lucky to find the same today for less than $3000. But our humble friends at Gordon & Macphail are not in the business of selling luxury. No, they sell excellent malt whisky treated with the utmost care for an absolutely spectacular price. The boys in Elgin have an advantage over most other bottlers in the industry, they've been filling casks at their partners' distilleries for over 125 years. The special Speymalt series has always offered incredible value, but never before have we had access to entire casks at cask strength. It's unclear if access to these extremely special casks will continue, but we'll do everything in our power to make sure it does. For anyone who believes that the age of single cask gems is behind us, you need look no further for proof to the contrary. Please note that the supplier erroneous quoted the cask number as 3406, the correct number is 3442, but the cask details are the same.