I contacted The Macallan people (a.k.a. The Edrington Group) about the question above and they wrote back that prior to the bottle redesign (and launching of the "Fine Oak" series) in 2005, the 30-y.o. "Sherry Oak" had blue labels (which I'm sure we've all seen advertised online)....problem is, there's a noticeable difference in the SHADE OF BLUE on the labels of these older (1999to 2004) bottles of Sherry Oak; one label has a light, powder-blue colored background, with gold lettering (also the neck label), the other has a much darker blue background, with somewhat bolder lettering. Both otherwise have identical size and style of lettering, so far as I can judge from the images - sadly, I have never seen one of these bottles in person!! (See images below.)
Does anyone know if there were actually two different versions of blue label used, and if so, which was the older of the two? -or were they bottled for sale in different regions? Also, anyone know if the 1999-2004 average annual production/distribution was more or less than 2005 to the present?
