THE SWEET TASTE OF LUXURY
The Macallan Fine and Rare Collection
by Louis Charles

Fine and rare. What images do those words evoke for you? A Rolls Royce Silver Shadow? A well-aged vintage of La Tache? Rita Hayworth’s performance in Gilda? For Scotch lovers, those words conjure up The Macallan, whose Fine & Rare Collection includes bottlings that date back to 1856.

We have always used the eighteen-year-old mahogany-tinged vintage as our whisky benchmark, but it pales by comparison to Collection members like a 1945 bottling that commands £3,750—just shy of $7,000. That vintage and the 25 succeeding vintages until 1972 were bottled in 2002, after years of maturation in sherry oak casks. Each of the Fine & Rare Collection is hand-filled from single casks, with only 10,000 bottles in all.

In the Collection’s nineteenth century offerings, some created history, such as the 1.4 liter bottle from vintage 1884, when the phylloxera problems in France’s wine regions wiped out brandy manufacture too, driving demand for other spirits. The carefully cellared and aged distillations have garnered record prices at auctions, along the lines of fine and rare Burgundies. If you are looking to impress the Scotch lover in your life, this is the perfect gift. Find out more at www.themacallan.com.

CRYSTAL DREAMS The Macallan 50 Years Old In February of 2006, Macallan released its limited edition 50 Years Old whisky in a sleek, specially designed Lalique crystal decanter. Made with Golden Promise barley, this single malt whisky has a deep amber color with notes of cumin and cardamom and dark prunes and chocolate on the palate. A long finish of sherry oak and peat smoke round out the intense and bold offering. The Macallan 50 Years Old, retailing at $5,995, is packaged in a leather-bound box with a booklet commemorating the partnership between Macallan and Lalique.

(Updated: 03/17/06)