The famed Scottish bard Robbie Burns once exclaimed “freedom and whiskey band together!” In that vain, Canadian scotch aficionados will soon be free to quench their thirst with an extremely rare offering from The Macallan — if they have just a little more than $17,000, that is.
In the latest round of its Six Pillars Collection, a 57-year-old single malt whiskey has been released by Macallan, valued at $17,250 and sold with a decanter made by the famed French crystal house Lalique.
While the worldwide supply is small, Canada’s wealthiest tipplers can rest assured that our friends in Scotland have not been blind to a recent uptick in the popularity of high-end sprits on this side of the pond. In fact, according to Macallan, more than five per cent of the entire global allocation has been earmarked for this market.
Cheryl Hudson, Canadian brand manager for Macallan, says Canada’s share of global inventory reflects growth in Canadian demand for luxury spirits. “Canada continues to see strong growth for premium single malt whisky and particularly for Macallan,” she explains.
According to the distillery, this particularly rare 57-year-old single malt whisky has been vatted together from two casks: the first, a 1950 American oak sherry butt; the second a vatting of Macallan from Spanish oak sherry butts originally filled in 1949, 1951 and 1952. Marc Laverdiere, Canadian brand ambassador describes the finished product as: “a softly sumptuous single malt, showing off the classic dried fruits, spice and hints of peat redolent of the Macallan house style of the early 1950s.”
This is the second oldest whisky ever released by the company, only surpassed in age by the legendary 1926, a 60-year-old whiskey bottled in 1986, which sold at auction for $75,000 in 2005. More recently, two bottles of 50-year-old Macallan sold for $8,700 and $11,900 at auction.
