James MacArthur is a Scottish independent bottler established in 1982. Although the original aim of the Old Masters series was to present casks from little-known or lost distilleries, this concept has been widened a little.

We’re trying a Macallan 1980 bottled in 2001. Although the label doesn’t mention the cask type, a sister cask #16447 was bottled by Jack Wiebers in 2010 and that was said to be a sherry butt.

Macallan 1980 (57,8%, James Mac Arthur Old Master’s 2001, cask #16457)

Nose: lots of yellow (slightly overripe) apples, mixed with dusty grains and old books. Quite some...