Macallan 64 year old in Lalique Cire Perdue

       

 

Famed Speyside distillery  The Macallan and legendary  crystal artisan Lalique have produced a one-of-a-kind decanter, created by the ancient "cire perdue" or "lost wax" method, holding the oldest and rarest Macallan ever bottled. The Macallan in Lalique Cire Perdue decanter, created to celebrate the 150th René's Lalique's birth and containing a 64 years old Macallan single whisky, will be auctioned off by Sotheby's on November 15, 2010 in New York. All proceeds from the sale, which is expected to top $75,000, will be donated to charity water, a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. For the next eight months, The Macallan in Lalique: Cire Perdue decanter will travel around the world from Paris to New York via Madrid, London,Moscow, Seoul, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Taipei, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. The Cire Perdue decanter was designed and painstakingly hand crafted by Lalique exclusively for The Macallan, inspired by the beauty of The Macallan's 150 hectare estate in north-eastern Scotland. 


The decanter is based upon a ship's decanter of the 1820s, the decade in which The Macallan was founded, and features a beautifully engraved panorama of The Macallan estate by the river Spey. The 64 years old Macallan has been vatted together from three casks, all built from sherry seasoned Spanish oak. The first was filled in 1942, the second in 1945 and the third in January 1946, from which the age of this great Macallan has been taken. Prior to the release of this 64 years old Macallan in the Cire Perdue decanter, the previous oldest Macallan released by the distillery was the 60 years old, distilled in 1926 and bottled in 1986, of which only forty bottles were ever produced. The lost wax process is an ancient practice originally developed to cast large pieces in bronze. After first modeling a piece in wax, it is covered with plaster and then sent to the oven to bake the clay while the wax melts. Finally, molten crystal is poured in the emptied shape.

 

                                                             

  

     Macallan Rarest 1969

                                                                   

Whisky bottlers, Duncan Taylor, have announced the inaugural release in their new Rarest collection with the launch of their           Macallan Rarest 1969. A series of single cask whisky's no longer widely available, the Rarest  Collection come bottled at cask strength and unfettered by chill-filtration or added colourant. They have been carefully selected from the company’s extensive reserves of old casks and promise “unparalleled levels of luxury and refinement”, according to the company’s blog.  

The Rarest Macallan comes presented in a decanter of exquisite crystal, intricately engraved and adorned with hand cut silver, in a   display case produced by Duncan Taylor’s cabinet makeer from the very cask the whisky spent 42 years maturing in. 

Bottled in 2012 from an individual sherry cask filled in September 1969, only 146 bottles are available.
The Rarest Macallan 1969 is available from selected whisky specialists, retailing for around £12,000.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
It doesn't get much better than this. The Macallan 60yo in Lalique ($20,000) is not only one of the oldest and rarest (and tastiest) single malt whiskies ever  bottled by the distillery, it's also one of the best looking when it's sitting on your shelf. That's because it lives inside an elegant Lalique IV decanter that pays homage to the small stills in which the spirit is made. It's topped off with a crystal stopper with a copper cap made from an old Macallan still. All of it comes in a sleek, high-polish black lacquer box.         
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The decanter of  Macallan is an arresting enough centrepiece without ever considering the delightfull single malt inside. Coming from  The Macallan Atable, at 46 per cent abv, it makes for a stout sipping whisky that can stand up to a splash of  water or amidst a few rocks of ice. 

Tasting notes: 

The deep, golden colour makes for an inviting first impression and the nose does not disappoint, surrending the heady spice blend of dark cherries,

saturated in mulled wine. The clove-infused fruit and peppery cardamom carries through to plum pudding in the palate with a dollop of double cream and shavings of dark chocolate. The sherry finish lingers on the tongue long after consumption, leaving a hint of pleasantly peaty smoke at the end.

 
Some Macallan Facts:
In 1998 the estate farm on which Macallan whisky originates was resurrected back into life. During this time an amount of Golden Promise barley was grown. This crop being entirely for Macallans requirements to produce whisky. The manor house which occupies the estate has been fully restored allowing visitors the opportunity to walk it’s halls.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

 

  The Dalmore Selene

There is no better name for this unique 58 year old expression than Selene, the Titan goddess of the moon – a deity that embodied all things tasteful,  beautiful and divine. Characteristics shared by our exceptional single Highland malt. Casks 1781 and 1782  were both filled on the same day, 7th June 1951, and then left slumbering deep in our darkest warehouse. After over half a century, our Master Distiller deemed the time was right and combined their individual aromas, flavours and finishes in a unique creation worthy of the ancient gods themselves.

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 The Macallan  M                                                                                                                     

China’s recent government crackdown on gift-giving by officials may have crimped spending on premium spirits, but that hasn’t stopped distilleries from releasing pricey limited-edition bottles for Asian drinkers to splurge on.

 
The Macallan has been making single-malt whisky in Speyside, Scotland, since the early 19th century, but on Thursday it released a new product in Hong Kong. Called M and available in just 1,750 bottles, the line is made of whisky selected from aged casks and bottled in 1.5-liter Lalique crystal decanters. Each is priced at $4,500.
 
“It’s the first time we’re launching a product in Asia,” Ken Grier, director of Malts at the Macallan, told the Journal. “Asia is our top-selling region and Hong Kong is a window to the luxury world.”
 
Though toasts in China are traditionally made with the heady clear-colored liquor baijiu, more people are turning to single-malt Scotch whisky as the tipple of choice at drinking sessions and for gifts between rich businessmen.
 
The Macallan isn’t alone among Scotch distillers in promoting its products with expensive limited editions. Executives at French drinks giant Pernod Ricard RI.FR -0.90% told the Journal this week they are targeting affluent Asian buyers, whether at bars and clubs or at airport duty-free counters, with products like the Royal Salute 62 Gun Salute, which retails at $2,000 a bottle. Meanwhile, earlier this year Diageo DGE.LN -0.58%-owned Johnnie Walker unveiled a Lunar New Year collection of 12 bottles specifically for the Chinese market, priced at $4,800 per set.
 
The Macallan and Lalique have teamed up in the past. For instance, they collaborated on a single decanter of 64-year-old whisky that fetched $460,000 at an auction in New York in 2010. The pair have also created a series of four decanters for whiskies, ranging from 50 to 60 years old, and with price tags of up to $20,000.
 

   

 The Macallan 1946.

 Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisk  Distillery Bottling

 
This Macallan 1946 is rather unusual, in that it was made with peated malt due to the high post-war prices of coal. It also happens to be one of the greatest Macallans ever released in our opinion. The inital release of this was quite large and took a while for the   distillery to sell, but it is now recognised as a classic Macallan and its reputation is assured.

 

 

                        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            The Macallan 55 years old.                                                                                                    

This whiskey was distilled in a sherry oak barrel and aged for 55 years. The single malt whisky was then bottled in a Lalique

Cristal Decanter , made by René Lalique who created a similar perfume bottle in 1910. The drink was said to have a dark 
rosewood color that exuded a nice smell that similar to peat smoke and sweet dried fruits. While the soft and smooth  

taste had a hint of citrus flavor, it was also noted to be a bit spicy 

 
   
 

   A BIG BUNCH OF MACALLANS ELEGANCIA

 

 

 

 

 

   The Macallan 55 Years Old ~ bottled between 1926/1928.                 La Piece de Resistance !     

 
 
A certificate of authenticity by Allan Schiach, former chairman of the Macallan, stated that this 50 year old Macallan is a result of three casks Macallan that     were distilled between 1926 and 1928. During this period these casks both lost volume and alcohol strength as a result of the maturing process.
Unlike lower qualities of malt whisky's, the contents of the 50 year old Macallan reduced completely naturally by the maturing process and has been bottled at cask strength..
The alcohol strength(ABV) was after 50 years only 38.6%, a few percent lower than the normal alcohol strength, and is diluted by nothing else but time.
 
What was interesting is that a bottle of this 50 year old Macallan was auctioned and sold by Christies in May 1999 for an amount of 9,350 Pounds, at that time the second highest price ever paid for a bottle of liquor during an auction (improved that time by a Macallan 60 years old!).
 
These bottles were then sold in the Macallan distillery at a closed bid.
In order to know where they have been spread all over the world the Macallan asks the owners to contact The Macallan!

 

                                     

  The Macallan - Rankin edition.   

Scottish whiskeymaking and Scottish photography combine with the launch of The Macallan Masters of Photography Rankin Edition. Rankin is a famed Scottish photographer and he was chosen to Easter Elchies House, the "spiritual home of The Macallan." He spent a summer interpreting the The Macallan Estate through his camera lens. The result is 1,000 unique bottles of The Macallan Fine Oak 30 year old single malt whisky each bearing an original Rankin image, captured on Polaroid. Since Polaroid was discontinued this year,The Masters of Photography represents the end of an era. The black-and-white pictures include artistic studies of the lovely Tuuli, Rankin's muse, shown on this bottle, as well as pictures of Easter Elchies House, shots of craftspeople at the distillery, and still life images of the surrounding flora and fauna at the estate. Each bottle comes in a black leather box lined with velvet and containing an original Rankin Polaroid. Each bottle will have an individually printed label which matches the specific Polaroid contained within the box and a booklet of authenticity signed by Rankin. Each bottle sells for around $1,300.

Nov 17th 2008 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                             

 

 

 Isabella's Islay.

 

The extremely luxurious bottle is essentially a bespoke English Crystal decanter that is adorned with a whopping 8500 diamonds and even features a   handsome amount of white gold, along with a generous spread of some 300 rubies encrusted all over the bottle.(6.2 Milj. dollars!).

 


The original uses only diamonds for the whole of the surface. The encrusted writing is in rubies, the decanter's stopper is the finest white gold and the peak of the neck of the decanter is finest English Crystal.The Original is the ultimate combination of the art of the jeweler, the hand of the craftsman and the skill of the whisky maker.

Just as engaging is what cannot be seen to the naked eye, the whole of the decanter is made from English Crystal, then covered with white gold before it is then covered with diamonds.

A truly stunning piece and the most luxurious alcoholic beverage in the world today.