I was interested in a comment made by Brian McHenry in the Question Time thread. He said... "Finally, I assume that you know that the Macallan 18yr old is going to be represented by a number of different vintages (mine is 1976). The later '70s vintages do taste differently." Just how different are the tastes of the '70s vintages? A while ago, we had a Macallan tasting at our local 'research centre' (Nobody Inn, Doddiscombsleigh, Devon - approx 200 diff malts!). We tasted the 10yr, 10yr 100 proof, 18 yr (1976 I think), 25 yr and the 1874. Both of the 10yrs tasted pretty rough in comparison with the others (esp the 100 proof, which was too spirity without water, but went flat when water was added). The 1875 was nice, but inferior to the 18yr. There was not much between the 18 and the 25yr - the 25 being a bit smoother. As a result, I bought a bottle of 18yr (1976). I subsequently managed to get a bottle of 12yr Duty Free. This is also nice, much much better than the 10yr, but not as smooth as the 18yr.