MACALLAN 1967- THE MACALLAN MAUSOLEUM
The ancient remains of a parish church still stand in the graveyard close to Easter Elchies House on The Macallan Estate. The mausoleum, the resting place of the aristocratic Grant family, stands alongside surviving gravestones from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
In the shade of oak and beech trees lie the remains of two local men killed in action in the First World War, another lost in a local ferry disaster, and generations of farmers who would have sown, grown and harvested crops on the surrounding farmland. The Macallan graveyard is a fitting tribute to a community spirit born centuries ago that is still very much alive and prospering today.
On this label, Sir Peter Blake’s distinctive way with collage records a treasured place on The Macallan Estate. The enigmatic, tartan-cloaked figure turning from us might well be contemplating the generations that have gone before. It is fitting that Sir Peter’s hares are so explosively alive. Against vivid, green grass and the lichen-encrusted roof of an ancient building, two boxing hares spring at each other, a spirited and symmetrical vision full of life.
Lead Whisky Maker Sarah Burgess’ canny nose for the perfect whisky has been matched by Mary McCartney’s photographic framing of the bottle against a moss coated wall, in a calming, green gloom. A mausoleum is, quite rightly, a place of profound remembrance. This single malt is one that will be impossible to forget.
There are reassuring, homely flavours with natural notes of oak, hazelnut and strawberry (the fruit grows abundantly in Scotland). There are exotic notes, too, of pineapple, fig and light spiced peach; mesmeric combinations that serve as sensual travel agents.
For their descendants, life continues spiritedly, with a sense of community and belonging embedded into the landscape. The whisky which Sir Peter Blake has labelled could serve equally as a catalyst for contemplation or celebration.
