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Macallan 50 Year
Single Malt Scotch available |
THE MACALLAN DISTILLERY
This chateau of malt whisky became a part of the Highland Distillers group in 1996. The highly respected group thus inherited a distillery noted for extraordinarily rigorous standards. The progress of Macallan will be watched with eagle eyes by lovers of malt whisky as the distillates of recent years come to maturity in the first decade of the 2000s. Meanwhile, there have been some outstanding new releases, each scoring similarly high points for often quite different attributes. The character of Macallan has traditionally begun with Golden Promise barley, but this Scottish variety is becoming hard to find. Cultivation has drastically diminished because Golden Promise offers a relatively ungenerous yield of grain to farmers. Its yield to distillers in terms of spirit is also on the low side, but the flavors produced are delicious. Until about 1994, Macallan used only Golden Promise, and this now-precious variety still accounts for about 30 per cent of each infusion. Macallan’s richness is enhanced by the use of especially small stills. When the company has expanded output to cope with demand, it has added more stills, rather than building bigger ones. The number grew from 6 to 21 between 1965 and 1975. The stills are heated by gas burners. This use of direct flame can impart a caramelization of the malt which steam heat does not. Most famously, Macallan is known for its loyalty to sherry aging. Other distillers or bottlers may offer editions with more heavy sherry, but none so militantly pursues the wine of Jerez throughout its range. Sceptics argue that the sherry dominates Macallan, but that is manifestly not true. The whisky has big, bold, beautifully rounded flavors, with touches of peat smoke, the classic Speyside floweriness, and a highly distinctive esteriness that reminds some of Calvados. In older versions, with less sherry, or perhaps with fino, that apple note metamorphoses into grapefruit, lime, or orange. Even the 7-year-old malt, bottles exclusively for the Italian market, is full of flavor. One of The Macallan’s celebrated adherents, novelist Kingsley Amis, insisted that the 10-year-old version was “the best glass”. There is considerable development of character between the 10 and the 12-year-old, while many devotees prefer the 18-year-old. Another novelist, Mordecai Richler, simply nominated “Macallan Single Malt” as his favorite aroma. The whisky writer Wallace Milroy proposed the 1964 vintage as the stuff of legend. A rival case, so to speak, might be made for the 1950, with its slightly oily, peaty palate and spectacularly long finish. There have been a number of special editions. In 1993, a sixty-year-old was bought for £6,400 by a bar manager in Osaka, Japan. Whisky has probably been made on the Macallan site, on a small hill overlooking the Spey, near Craigellachie, since the late 1700s. A farmer on the hillside first made whisky there from his own barley. A manor house from this period has been restored as a venue for entertaining visitors. An illustration of the house is used on the box that accommodates each bottle of The Macallan. It is intended to convey the sense of a whisky “chateau”, and perhaps to offset the harder lines of what is a functional-looking distillery. The first licensed distillation at Macallan is said to have taken place in the earliest days of legalized production, in 1824. The business passed in 1892 into the hands of the Kemp family, whose descendant Allan Shiach (also a Hollywood screenwriter under the name Allan Scott) continued to manage it until recently. Macallan has long been a renowned contributor to blends, notably including The Famous Grouse. In 1968-69, the company decided that single malts would also be an important element of the future. Every whisky lover should be grateful for this decision, though it placed the distillery’s independence at stake. Macallan became a public company in order to finance the stock it was laying down for ten years or more as single malt. At the same time, based on tastings of existent stock, the dry oloroso policy was instituted.
HOUSE STYLE Single Malt Scotch, Irish Whiskey, Bourbon, Rye Whisky, Canadian Whisky, Cognac and Tequila all available for purchase online to Michigan residents only |
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