The Macallan just closed a loop it’s been building toward since buying Valdespino: TIME : SPACE Sherry Cask, the first release aged in casks seasoned with the distillery’s own sherry rather than sherry sourced from someone else’s bodega.
The 20 Year Old whisky is bottled at 44.8% ABV and goes through two separate rounds of sherry-cask influence — matured in predominantly European oak seasoned casks on the Speyside estate, then married in a small batch from the first 200 casks ever seasoned at Valdespino’s bodega in Jerez de la Frontera, filled back in 2024 during The Macallan’s 200th anniversary. Expect raisins, fig, medjool date, and cinder toffee up front, with espresso and dry oak carrying the finish.
It’s the third bottle in the TIME : SPACE Collection, following the 200th Anniversary release and TIME : SPACE Mastery, and it ships in the collection’s circular vessel, this time designed around the shape of Valdespino’s palomino grapes.
At $1,400, it’s not an impulse buy, and it’s only available through The Macallan Ballot from September 17-24. Owning the sherry supply chain start to finish is the kind of vertical-integration flex most distilleries can’t make — worth watching whether the juice backs it up once bottles start landing.
