Edrington Asia Travel Retail has hailed the recent DFS Masters of Wines & Spirits as its most successful to date with an expanded showcase of prestige expressions featured exclusively at the event.
Edrington’s association with the DFS initiative – since the event’s inauguration in 2011– has generated over US$2.3 million from sales of exclusive and rare bottlings of The Macallan and Highland Park. Sales of the 2018 collection are expected to increase this amount to US$3 million.
The 2018 DFS Masters of Wines & Spirits, held in The Warehouse Hotel along the Singapore River, featured over 120 ultra-premium expressions from 60 Champagne, wine and spirits houses. Around 800 local and international guests were invited to explore the collection at the speakeasy style event, guided by brand ambassadors.
Single malts dominated the event with the widest assortment offered by a specific category. This year The Macallan showcased its most varied assortment of rare and prestige expressions offered at any Masters of Wines & Spirits event, presented by its first female whisky maker, Sarah Burgess.
“DFS Masters of Wines & Spirits has cemented its place in Edrington Asia Travel Retail’s calendar as one of the most important and successful showcases for highly sought-after prestige expressions of The Macallan,” said Edrington Asia Travel Retail Commercial Director Marcelo Colombo.
“DFS has raised the bar yet again with a refreshing format which has opened up this unique experience to an even broader set of consumers, providing brands with a platform to reach out and educate the next generation of connoisseurs. Alongside this, the exclusive environment of The Macallan room allows us to connect some of DFS’ most loyal customers personally, many of them ardent fans of The Macallan, with our whisky maker.”
The Macallan at the 2018 DFS Masters of Wines & Spirits
The Macallan Fine & Rare Masters’ Selection
The Macallan Fine & Rare Masters’ Selection, exclusively created for the 2018 DFS Masters of Wines & Spirits, features five Fine & Rare vintages in 70cl, complemented by samples in 5cl miniatures.
The collections, a joint curation by The Macallan Master of Wood Stuart MacPherson and Master Distiller Nick Savage, brings to life the diversity of colour, aroma and flavour of single malts derived from The Macallan’s expertise in wood management and dedication to the maturation of its whiskies in sherry-seasoned oak casks.
The Masters’ Selection is presented in a bespoke cabinet, featuring fine and rare vintages spanning six decades from the 1930s to 1980s.
The Macallan 50 Years Old
The Macallan 50 Years Old is crafted from whiskies distilled in 1967. The new 2017 release has acquired an elegance and character from the combination of distillation in The Macallan’s small stills and maturation in its European oak sherry-seasoned casks.
The Macallan Black M Decanter
A new collaboration with Lalique, The Macallan M Decanter is crafted in black crystal, which is a rare and more challenging form of crystal making. Lalique’s signature satinée effect features on the five facets of each decanter, which are individually numbered and hand-engraved by Lalique Cristal artisans in Wingen-sur-Moder, in Alsace, France.
The 2017 release is crafted from a small number of casks to yield a complex style of The Macallan with hints of peat smoke, reflecting the history of The Macallan through the different eras in which the distillery has operated.
The Macallan in Lalique – Golden Age of Travel
The Macallan in Lalique – Golden Age of Travel (Steam Train) celebrates the 1930s, the era of international travel, with a series of five decanters designed by Lalique. The inspiration for this third release comes from Lalique’s founder Rene Lalique who created the glass panels in the ‘wagon présidentiel’ of the Orient Express train in the 1930s.
The rare single malt – distilled in 1937, first bottled in 1973 and then rebottled in 2017 – is rich with oily flavours of spice, toasted oak, Seville oranges and rose oil.
Edrington also used the platform to offer tastings of The Macallan Enigma from its new travel retail exclusive range – The Macallan Quest Collection, recently launched as a global first initiative with DFS Singapore Changi Airport.
Edrington also featured Highland Park Orcadian Vintage 1964 and Highland Park Single Cask Series 15 Year Old – a DFS Masters of Wine & Spirits exclusive bottling – offering whisky enthusiasts an opportunity to purchase an ‘accessible collectible’.
The Orkney single malt’s global brand ambassador Martin Markvardsen was also on hand to share his knowledge and passion for Highland Park at the event. Markvardsen was recently named ‘Best Scotch Whisky Ambassador Of The Year’ at the World Whisky Awards.
