MACALLAN 1967- JOURNEY TO MARKET
For a whisky so steadfastly rooted to the place where it was born, The Macallan has travelled extraordinary distance.
Whilst observance to tradition, an obsession with the best quality and a devotion to a gloriously distinct taste are sacrosanct, the view has also always been about keeping what’s best for the future in sight. Roderick Kemp opened up markets across the world, exporting to Ceylon (as it was), India, Australia and the United States. At the same time, The Macallan’s reputation began to permeate beyond the blending world as a small, discerning audience across the United Kingdom discovered its joys.
Each unique label of the Anecdotes of Ages Collection details significant stories relating to our community, history and The Macallan Estate’s beautiful natural landscape. Sir Peter Blake’s masterful collage label here summons icons and imagery of the industrial age. Modern technology eventually arrived at the Distillery in 1920 with the purchase, by Janet Harbinson as proprietor, of a 3.5 tonne steam wagon. It was immediately christened the ‘iron horse’.
Oak casks of The Macallan began leaving the Easter Elchies Estate a little more consistently, bound for Dandeleith Station and trains that would head to Aberdeen to catch steamers south to London, or to Glasgow for shipping to the New World or the Empire approaching its sunset.
The whisky in the bottle, on which Sir Peter Blake’s label pays homage to these transports of delight, is in no danger of fading. This 1967 single malt could, indisputably, last for centuries. Its flavour notes signpost some of the distant reaches where The Macallan first travelled, with exotic hints of mango, ginger and nutmeg derived from the sherry seasoned oak cask.
The craft of Lead Whisky Maker Sarah Burgess, the art of Sir Peter Blake and Mary McCartney’s photograph (the front of the Distillery reflecting those far horizons) work so well together to chronicle both those journeys travelled and those that are yet to come.
