Macallan releases 500 bottles of new 40yo

Edrington-owned single malt Scotch The Macallan has launched the latest in its Sherry Oak Range, The Macallan 40 Years Old, with just 500 bottles made available globally.

The Macallan has released only its second-ever non-vintage 40yo expression

The new release is only the second non-vintage 40-year-old expression to come from the Speyside distillery.

In early 2006 when whisky maker Bob Dalgarno married nine casks for The Macallan 30 Years Old Sherry Oak edition, he laid a tenth cask back down.

This cask was bottled in 2016 at 40 years of age to become The Macallan 40 Years Old Sherry Oak.

“This whisky owes its very existence to the insight and intuition of Bob Dalgarno,” said Geoff Kirk, director of prestige for The Macallan.

“The additional decade of careful maturation through to 2016 has produced an outstanding and distinct single malt to add to the collection of rich, mature expressions from The Macallan. We relished the careful attention that has gone into creating The Macallan 40 Years Old.”

Given nosing and tasting notes include light peat, sweet ginger cake, treacle notes, ripe pineapple, citrus fruit sorbet, sultana, raisins, almonds and wood smoke.

The Macallan 40 Years Old Sherry Oak is bottled at 45% abv and retails at US$8,000. Of the 500 bottles available, 70 have been allocated to the US market.

Work is progressing on The Macallan’s new £100 million distillery in Speyside, with the construction of the new warehouses and filling store getting under way in October.