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Our visit to The Macallan Distillery

Part II | The Rarest Whiskies in The World | Part I

60 Year Old | 50 Year Old

25th November 1999 As we reported in Part I on our visit to Macallan, we were fortunate enough to meet Nina MacKellar who looks after the distillery collection of rare and historic bottlings, and Martin Green who is the whisky expert from Christies auctioneers. At the latest whisky sale today, Christies have sold one of the rarest whiskies in the world for the astonishing price of £ 9,900 (the 2nd highest ever)

The Valerio Adami Edition This bottle, a Macallan 60 Year Old, was distilled and bonded in 1926 and bottled as a limited edition of 12 with a specially commissioned label by the famous Italian artist Valerio Adami in 1986.

This 60 year-old malt probably represents the pinnacle of the outstanding whiskies produced at The Macallan distillery on Speyside. The combination of the rarity of this whisky, and its exceptional presentation, makes it fittingly the worlds most expensive malt whisky. (see picture )

60 Year Old Edition

The Peter Blake Edition Peter Blake, who designed the Beatles Sargeant Pepper's album cover, was commissioned to design a label for the first release of The Macallan 60 Years Old. The result was a roaring 20's style label for a whisky distilled in 1926 and bottled in 1986.

1991 World Record One of these bottles became the most expensive bottle of spirits ever sold at auction when it achieved £ 6,250 pounds. (see picture ) It was after this release of 1986 that a further release of 60 Year Old Macallan was made in 1993; this time a label was designed by Valerio Adami, one of Italys most important living artists. This edition was housed in a remarkable display case, or tantalus, of glass and brass, inspired by the spirit safe used in each distillery.

1996 World Record Again this 60 Year Old took the world record for a bottle of malt whisky when one sold at auction for £ 12,100 in 1996.

The History of Whisky Sales at Christies The first sale that included whisky at Christies was in Glasgow in 1986. This was not solely a 'whisky' sale but a mere 40 lots of whisky included as part of a fine wine sale. Even then, the top lot was a Macallan which fetched £ 1,100. This was a 50 Year Old distilled in 1928 and bottled in 1983 from a limited edition of 394.

The first sale devoted entirely to whisky was held in 1989, again in Glasgow. In the third sale (1991) devoted entirely to whisky a Japanese collector paid £ 6,250 for a bottle of 60 Year Old Macallan (Blake Edition) for display in his bar in Osaka.

50 Year Old

The Macallan Millennium Decanter This year the Macallan are releasing another extraordinary whisky - and again with great attention to both the whisky and it's final presentation. This whisky was filled into Spanish oak sherry casks in 1949. It was presumably just another days work in mid-winter on the 14th of January as three casks were rolled into place in the warehouse and the doors shut by the resident exciseman.

The door that now opens is that of the oak presentation box which features an ingot, cast from copper reclaimed from No. 9 spirit still at The Macallan Distillery. The decanter has a copper detail on the neck and stopper, the whisky inside described as deepest claret mahogany, richly phenolic on the nose and with a rich, smoky palate.

Stocks of the The Macallan Millennium Decanter are very limited and if you have an interest in reserving one please enquire here. They are priced at £ 2,000.