Yamazaki 12 Vs Macallan 12
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- čas přidán 13. 09. 2024
- Today Mike and Dustin vs two legendary and historic 12 year old sherry finished whiskies. Take an older bottling of Macallan 12 at 43% and pairing it against the ever increasingly hard to find and more and more expensive Yamazaki 12.
Yamazaki 12 is matured in American, Spanish & Japanese Oak Cask. Chill filtered and bottled at 43%.
Macallan 12 is stated as simply "Sherry Oak" where it is exclusively aged the full 12 years in a sherry cask. Chill filtered and bottled at 43%.
I remember drinking Macallan 10 as a teenager in the late 80's. I knew it was good because I knew single malt was better than blended but apart from that I had very little reference to work with. It was probably 40% but people were less hung up about that back then because the choice of casks were superior and demand was low. Besides, the barrels were bursting with paxarette and buckets of flavour.
I like this comparison but it's a bid random. They're suitably different to like both as much for different reasons. The Yamazaki has some Japanese Mizunara oak in the blend which gives it that interesting element. The old Macallan 12 would have used quality butts like the ones I described (without the turbo charged paxarette) in part due to the long and healthy relationship with the Andalusian bodegas. The reason the modern stuff is pants is down to greed and mass production for the global market. The past reputation is enough to sell it to anyone wanting to taste a legendary brand.
We just posted a kavalan "super" review, and a comment was made about how Yamazaki and Macallan fans see Kavalan as over priced while they spend crazy and almost seemingly unlimited money on those. Made me think back to some people saying this was a "strange" comparison. I feel somewhat vindicated in that these brands seem to keep bringing the same people together, and if you love sherry and are willing to spend PREMIUM prices, it's all about Kavalan!
Anyways this comment hit the nail on the head so cheers Welish!
Agree with you guys, Yamazaki 12 is better but definitely no great shakes, its frail.
It is very delicate. Anything more than a whisper of water and it vanishes.
Bothe are getting difficult to find. Interesting head to head. Cheers
They are getting harder to find but still in many “nice” restaurants. Cheers
It's been at least 4 years since I had both of those bottles at the same time....It'd be close for me, but I think the Mac 12 of a few years back wins out, although the Yama 12 has some unique and very floral elements. Fun to watch, thanks! Mike - $2K+ for the Laga 26 with 7,500 bottles?!? Thoughts?
I planned to buy Lag 26 but since Serge scored it 88 and price tag is crazy for something under 46% I don’t think it’s honestly worth it.
I'm seeing the Lag 26 for just over $1800 on some on-line shops... thats still a hard one to justify but as luck would have it I'm not big on holding my whisky purchases to any standards.
Oh, 44.2% i would guess this a disappointment in the making.
@@topshelfwhisky Well, if you end up getting it I'll look forward to the review. Here's hoping someone is kind enough to at least get you a sample.
@@DarkSalmonz For sure! I have the 21 from 1991-2012 and the 22 year Jazz coming soon... I believe the 21 is review 300. We also have maybe the greatest Jazz bottling ever, the 2013.
Excellent comparison...Having missed the prime Macallan days, I haven't had the legendary Macallan 12yr or 18yr Sherry cask offering. The current offerings are good, but not worth the cost. The Yamazaki 12yr was one of my favorites at ~$60, but at ~$125 there are better available offerings. The Yamazki 12yr is starting to accumulate on shelves which is telling after years of it being impossible to find.
I remember well the days of walking into any liquor store n Columbus and having the choice of Macallan cask strength 10 year for $88 or Mac 18 that used super charged paxarette sherry casks for $180... and we thought those prices were outrageous.
The lament of innocence's
Appreciate you both for this kinds of comparisons that I love. Regarding these 2 whisky all I can say is that recent version of both are overhyped, overpriced and underwhelming and there is no way I spend my money on any of them.
I’m not sure about your Yamazaki but that 2017 prior Mac 12 was a gem among 12 year olds.
Always fun doing comparisons. And yes, the new releases of both are lesser than they once were. 🙁
To be fair, I thought the old mac would win here. But the current yam you can pickup right now is what we used here. It's a darn good whisky, just over priced.
@@topshelfdustin3060 I could guess you probably go with Yamazaki 12 since Mac 12 is one dimensional and one dimensionality has always been your objection towards sherry bombs. Yama 12 is a good whisky but maybe for 50-60 bucks. Where I live Yama 12 is more expensive than Springbank 12 and I usually have a hard time convincing myself spending 140$ for a 43% whisky.
@@Houman7 I don't see myself buying either of these in the future. Honestly thought the power of the mac 12 sherry would have done well. But guess not.
i think the old style sherry note in yamazaki 12 might came from mizunara cask. someone said the old style sherry transportaion cask shared some note with old aged mizunara.
And suntory actually seasoned some of their mizunara cask with sherry wine.
I think it's BOTH. I think they use mizunara and some older world sherry sourced stuff. The Japaneses are pretty ok with selling less vs lowering their standards. I respect that.
Mike's got a buzz before this review.
Love both bottles
Cheers
We often have a buzz by the end of these, but I think mike's just trying to hype up this one!
I still have half a bottle of the Yamazaki 12. It's good, but I won't be buying a 2nd bottle. I thought the Hakushu 12 was better. I do have the Hakushu 18 and Hibiki 21 still unopened. I just haven't found an interest yet in Japanese whiskey. Great review.
nice stuff
I, too, prefer the Hakushu 12. But I'm an Islay fan so the peat helps.
The newer Macallan 12 is terrible. What happened?
They're seasoning the sherry casks for far less time, the sherry casks might also just not be as good.
they took all gd 12yo cask to bottle as single cask and charge for 4 figures
Glendronach 18 or Yamazaki 18? 😃
If I'd known I'd need a yam 18 when they were obtainable and even simi affordable. Heck the 12 yam I'm seeing over 200 now!
@@topshelfdustin3060 Yes crazy
i had Yamazaki 12 recently at a bar and it was very underwhelming. i remember trying it when it first came to market and it was a wonderful. sweet, flowery, bit a citrus, and nice malt. this was flat, bit of sweetness, but not much else going on. does not warrant the hype or the price it goes for now a days.
It's a starter malt with excellent casks and good wood spice. Nothing more or less, should be a 60 dollar bottle imo and at that price it would to me still be among the best 43% 12's out there.
@@topshelfdustin3060 at $60-70 it would be a bar staple, ive only need it close to $200. have you had the NAS Hibiki, wondering how it compares to the new batches of Y12.
@@Jeff.Ruhnke Retail here on the yam is 130 and I see them for sale at least once a year for that. The one in the review I paid 99.99 for. I won't be replacing. As for Hibiki, I have limited experience there. I've had a few age stated ones, but couldn't tell you much about either.
Before 2015 the Yamazaki 12 was £35 a bottle and the 18 was £80-90. It burned me to pay £75 because I knew it was a rip-off but it was still a good Japanese whisky and I loved it. There has to be a cut off though. Wash your face, take a deep breath, and realise that, interesting though it is, there are far better whiskies for the money. The hype was for a fine £40 whisky with a difference. At 43% it's a £50 bottle in reality.
@@welshtoro3256 oh you're right and at the same time. Yam 12 unlike many of these hyped bottles does have that unique oak character. I was fine buying ONE for the 100 price point. But one and done.
Macallan is a far superior drop, Japanese is overhyped and overpriced
not sure how the "rolls royce" of scotch can be anything but overhyped and over priced itself ;)
@@topshelfdustin3060 lol i don't know how it is in the rest of the world but in Australia it's $100 for macllan 12 and $350 for yamazaki 12, i can get a macllan rare cask for cheaper than that
@@lucifer616161 yikes, yeah 130 for the yam 12 in the states. It's hard to find these old mac 12's now thought and the new 12's are noticeably worse.