The Macallan Fine Oak 1975

This is a single malt lover’s dream:

complex, seductive and smoothly integrated.

Over the decades, the Macallan distillery has been offering limited lots of their older malts from 1926 to 1972. They are, of course, highly collectable malts selling in the thousands of dollars. They have now turned to the 1975, which is mighty and forthright and assertive. The malt scotch is 30 years young, which is no cliché: the malt has youth and vibrance, with very many summers ahead of it. Malt maker at The Macallan, Bob Dalgarro, says, ”The cask selected was 8845, an American hogshead previously seasoned with Bourbon. Our 1975 has remained undisturbed for 30 years.“

The Macallan 1975 is said to be in the Fine Oak style (softer and more approachable malt) which was launched in 2004. It is, but it is more. Our tasting shows The 1975 Macallan having more body, more gusto, more complexity of flavors. In color (which is always natural at The Macallan — a conjoining and interaction of wood and spirit), it is surely like the Fine Oak Macallan: soft gold and wonderfully aromatic. The tastes, however, are deeper and more intense: caramel, with ample fruit notes of banana, apple, and grapefruit. The finish is even more complex: ginger, chocolate, and seductive soft peat, spice and oak, all smoothly integrated. A malt for heroes.

Malt maker Dalgarro says that only 185 bottles will be available, selling for approximately $1,200 each. Buyers will have their bottles registered with the distillery, and they will be invited to sign the register held at Easter Elchies House, Macallan’s spiritual home built in 1700, which records vintage Macallan owners worldwide. This is a malt collector’s dream, a prized collectable, and important piece of malt scotch history. Further, it will be a great investment and auctionable malt, for which the main auction houses yearn. For information, or to place an order: www.themacallan.com. Rémy Cointreau of New York imports Macallan. Fine wine and spirits shop retailers may be able to obtain a bottle as well.