I'm impressed that Macallan has successfully leveraged their branding into stepping away from an age statement
In scotland to sell a scotch as 18 year, every drop in there has to be minimum 18 years, and if 1997 was a bad year then you're actually getting a 19 year scotch in there. Now when you get Macallan Ruby, it is "around" 18 years but is blended with a larger range. This kind of move would destroy most distillers, but Macallan is synonymous with quality scotch so they can get away with it.