Edrington Global Travel Retail will showcase a prestige line-up from its luxury single malt The Macallan at next week’s TFWA World Exhibition in Cannes.
Leading the offer is The Macallan Rare Cask Black Limited Edition 2018 (48% ABV), a travel retail-exclusive bottling of the brand’s Rare Cask Black whisky. The commemorative pack includes a pewter flask featuring an etched illustration of The Macallan’s new distillery and visitor experience.
Featuring a print of one of The Macallan’s six signature pillars – its ‘curiously small stills’ – captured by world-renowned Magnum photographer Paolo Pellegrin, the limited edition of 7,000 bottles brings together one of The Macallan’s rarest expressions and a pioneering photographer.
The Macallan Rare Cask Black is a singular expression in that less than 1% of the casks maturing in The Macallan reserves meet the strict criteria for the whisky, which has a subtle smoky flavour.
According to Edrington, the flavour delivers “a full-bodied richness from the European sherry-seasoned and American oak casks, with the added intensity of peat smoke”.
Edrington Global Travel Retail Managing Director Igor Boyadjian commented: “The Macallan Rare Cask Black Limited Edition is a unique culmination of creativity, innovation and experimentation, and a celebration of our stunning new distillery.
“Rare Cask Black has played an important role in our ongoing premiumisation drive, bringing a distinctive and differentiated smoky take on The Macallan and a unique visual identity that has resonated strongly with travellers around the globe.”
The travel retail-exclusive has an RRP of US$495 and will be available in selected airports around the world.
Other major presentations
Also on show is the fourth limited-edition decanter from The Macallan Golden Age of Travel series. It is a travel retail-exclusive range in collaboration with French crystal maker Lalique and features an exceptionally rare period edition of The Macallan, distilled in 1937.
This scarce vintage was first bottled in 1974, and rebottled in 2018. The whisky is showcased in a handcrafted Lalique crystal decanter, of which only 50 have been made. It features an illustration of a classic 1930s motor car. Each decanter is encased in a premium leather presentation box created by Piñavall in Ubrique, Spain.
Two decanters will remain with The Macallan and Lalique for their archives and the remaining 48 individually-numbered editions will be released in global travel retail from October 2018.
A new collaboration with Lalique is The Macallan M Decanter, now in black crystal – a more challenging form of crystal making. Each of the 725 individually-numbered and hand-engraved decanters features six facets which pay homage to The Macallan’s six pillars (The Spiritual Home, the distillery’s Curiously Small Stills, The Finest Cut, Exceptional Oak Casks, Natural Colour and The Peerless Spirit).
This 2017 release yields a complex style with hints of peat smoke. It is priced at US$6,995 and follows five annual releases of M since 2013.
