The Pocket Guide to Whisky by Blair Bowman

Author:Blair Bowman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Birlinn

Macallan

Nearly the end of the Decadent Line and only a short walk to get you to the Coastal Line. Macallan is one of the most highly regarded and sought-after single malts in the world, in terms of both quality and prestige.

Pronunciation

Mack-Allan

What you need to know

The Macallan is famed for being a predominantly sherried whisky. It is smooth and rich with lots of raisin, sweet toffee and honey notes.

The Macallan Distillery has ‘curiously small’ stills that help to produce a distinctively heavy, oily new make spirit which adds to the richness of the whiskies.

A huge amount of effort goes into making Macallan whisky, particularly in the way the signature sherry casks are managed and used.

Before the 1980s the Macallan was a hardly known brand, but in high demand from whisky blenders because of its rich, sweet flavour. Thanks to substantial marketing budgets and promotion it quickly became a stalwart of hotel bars and luxury venues around the world.

Best enjoyed ...

By creating a ceremonial atmosphere. Like the moment where the party stops for the popping of a champagne cork, take your time over the foil and stopper and listen for the squeak of the cork. Once you’ve let the genie out of the bottle there’s no going back … Unlike champagne, you can then pass the bottle around as a symbol of friendship and good times.

Setting the scene

If you’re heading to Speyside, no trip is complete without a mini pub crawl on the doorstep of Macallan. And you can’t get any more different than these three whisky stops: the world-famous Quaich Bar in the Craigellachie Hotel, an A-lister hang-out (if it’s good enough for Kate Moss …); the Highlander, an old-school Highland hotel with whisky, tartan and haggis aplenty; and finally the Fiddichside Inn. Joe, the proprietor, is eighty-seven years old and has been pulling pints and serving drams in the pub for almost sixty years. You will instantly be made to feel like a local in his pub, it is a true institution.

Bar chat

The ‘new’ Macallan distillery will open in early 2017, after a major expansion and modernisation of the distillery and visitors’ centre costing £100 million.

Look out for the Macallan Gold (note this has replaced the Macallan 10-year-old fine oak in certain markets), quite a citrussy Macallan with lots of lemons and oranges as well as classic sherry notes.

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