Gordon & MacPhail "Mr George Legacy" (4th Ed) 65yo 1958 Glen Grant [Tasted #660]

It was almost a year ago to the day I tried Gordon & MacPhail's "Mr George Legacy" 3rd Ed, a 63yo Glen Grant from 1959, and the third in the excellent "Mr George Legacy" series. Many thought that was the final release in the series, but here we are 12 months later, and G&M have honoured their second generation "Mr George" Urquhart (arguably the father of single malt whisky's popularity) with another release - this time a 65yo from 1958.

Sticking with tradition, this release is again a Glen Grant, bottled from a single cask (a first-fill Sherry butt laid down by "Mr George" himself in 1958) at 56.5% in November 2023. Cask No.3818 produced just 376 bottles, slightly more (but more or less in the ballpark) as the rest of the "Mr George" series, meaning like the releases before it, this will no doubt be a hard bottle to acquire.

Stuart Urquhart, Operations Director at Gordon & MacPhail, said: 

“My grandfather had a particular affinity with Glen Grant Distillery. Local to our home in Elgin, Mr George had a strong relationship with the owners and distillers through the decades and he enjoyed experimenting with different casks to complement the distillery’s lighter spirit style."

This edition’s packaging and support campaign is themed around having the courage of conviction, symbolised by ‘The Lone Oak’. Mr George’s approach – to age whisky for as long as it needed – was seen by some as eccentric during his lifetime. The theme celebrates this philosophy of occasionally going against the grain but always standing firm to one’s principles in pursuit of perfection. 

With scores of 92, 92 & 94 for the previous 3 releases respectively (& 95 for the original "Mr George Centenary" release) there's some serious pedigree to live up to....so does it? Let's find out...

Gordon & MacPhail "Mr George Legacy" (4th Ed) Glen Grant 65yo 1958 (56.5% ABV, 65yo, Single Cask, Speyside, Scotland, One of 376 bottles, £7,000)

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Colour: Deep, dark coffee-burgundy

Nose: Richly oaked sherry, but with a real fruit vibrancy. Cherries, cola, spices and old books too - an amazing mix of "old" and "fresh". Cocoa, coffee beans and sweet coffee notes follow. An incredibly intoxicating nose.

Palate: True to the nose. There's cherry, cola bottle lollies, oak, coffee beans, licorice twists and a flamed orange peel. After time, some sweeter orange cream emerges. Leather and rich dark chocolate. It's all here. The alcohol is present, but extremely well-integrated, never seeming overbearing or "hot" (despite the realtively high ABV). I'll often taste a whisky with an incredible nose, but a lacking palate. Here, the nose matches the palate in terms of character and quality. Amazing. A friend referred to this as "elegant" and that's exactly what it is.

Finish: Extremely long, with herbal hints of old oak, and coffee beans.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 94/100 (Martin). The best of the "Mr George" series to date, in my opinion, and so so close to the "Mr George Centenary" (still one of my favourite whiskies of the last 5 years). Just a beautiful, beautiful dram.

A big thanks once again to G&M & WS for the sample.

Cheers,

Martin.

Tasted #300: The Macallan 65yo in Lalique - The "Peerless Spirit"

Whilst it doesn't happen every time, we try to reserve the major milestone "Tasted" posts on this site for serious whiskies - rare, unique and often incredibly old whiskies.

Our 40th post covered Glenfarclas 40yo, our 50th post the Master of Malt 50yo Speyside whisky, and our 200th post covered the Master of Malt 60yo Speyside whisky. (Unfortunately we didn't follow the trend with this 1938 Macallan or this 1959 Macallan, which came in at #265 and #264 respectively...)  

So with us hitting "Tasted" #300 just as we celebrated the launch of the new The Macallan 65 years old in Lalique - "The Peerless Spirit" decanter, it was a no-brainer. We posted a detailed account of the media lunch yesterday, so this post focuses on our tasting notes.

It's not often you taste whisky from a €200 glass, and even less often when the whisky inside that glass is worth significantly more - especially when there's only 10mL in the glass! Such is the case though when you're tasting a whisky that retails for £23,000 / $35,000USD...

Fancy tasting glass aside, it's the whisky we're here to focus on, so let's get on with it...

The Macallan 65 years old in Lalique - "The Peerless Spirit" (46.3% ABV, 65yo, Highlands, Scotland, £23,000 / $35,000USD)

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Colour: Honey walnut-brown

Nose: Lots of woodsmoke - a very interesting trait. Not "oak" as you may get find in other older whiskies, nor peat smoke. More of a forresty type note, with some hints of pine. There's also ginger, spice and even a slight hint of juniper. A lot of variety, and not the sort of notes you might expect from a whisky that was distilled in 1950 and bottled in 2015! A beautiful nose, and one I kept coming back to over the next 20 minutes.

Palate: More woodsmoke, jube confectionary, and a big whack of cloves. There's smoke, but not peat smoke. There's also, somewhat surprisingly, citrus notes - most notably grapefruit zest. The pine notes from the nose continue through.

Finish: Incredibly long, with none of the oaky, astringent tannins we've had on some other older whiskies. There's plenty of that woodsmoke again, and waves of typical sherry notes (dark chocolate, walnuts, almonds) interspersed with lighter, more floral and tropical notes of grapefruit and orange peel. 

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 95/100. We're not afraid to call out if we think an incredibly-aged whisky isn't brilliant, but in this case, we don't need to. This whisky IS brilliant. We've tried 40, 50, 58 and 60 year old whiskies in the past, and occasionally found them over-oaked. Yes, it's an incredible feat for a whisky to make it to such an age, but in the past we've thought some of them would have been better off bottled 5 or 10 years earlier. That's not the case with this whisky. This whisky feels spot-on - like it's taken a long, long leisurely stroll to get to it's pinnacle, but finally, after 65 years, it made it.

The Peerless Spirit’ decanter will retail for £23,000 / $35,000USD, and is limited to 450 bottles. It will be available in Hong Kong from this month.

Additionally, in January 2017 Edrington Hong Kong will put up a complete set of The Macallan in Lalique decanters, with all proceeds to be donated to charity (50% to HK-based charities and 50% to other Asia-based charities). We're told the set will be housed in a bespoke, yet-to-be created Lalique crystal cabinet, with additional items not available with the individual bottlings. We're also told the cabinet will contain a "secret drawer" with hidden whiskies! Have your chequebooks ready...

TimeforWhisky.com would again like to thank Edrington Hong Kong for a truly fantastic and one of a kind event, to celebrate the launch of this incredible whisky.

Cheers,

Martin.

The Macallan 65 year old in Lalique - The "Peerless Spirit" Hong Kong Launch

Today saw Edrington Hong Kong launch the sixth and final whisky in the "Macallan in Lalique Decanter" series - a series of six whiskies each representing one of The Macallan's famous "Six Pillars". The whisky in this particular decanter is not only the oldest in the series, but the oldest whisky ever bottled by The Macallan - at an incredible 65 years old.

Edit: Our tasting notes are now up here.

Selected Hong Kong media were invited to a lunch earlier today not only to see the unveiling, but also to taste the whisky. Yes, we got to taste this incredible whisky, and will have tasting notes up tomorrow.

But first, a recap of the series - each one bottled in hand-blown Lalique decanters.

The first in the series, a 50 year old Macallan released in 2005 at 46% ABV, celebrated The Macallan's "Exceptional Oak Casks", with a Lalique decanter designed to replicate the patina / woodgrain of an oak cask:

The second, using amber-coloured crystal (said to be extremely difficult to produce) was a 55yo at 40.1% ABV, designed to represent The Macallan's "Natural Colour":

The third in the series, a 57yo at 48.5% ABV, represented the "Finest Cut" - a reference to the extremely small 16% "heart" of the spirit run that The Macallan places into its casks:

A 60yo (at 53.2% ABV) followed, celebrating The Macalan's "curiously small stills", with a partially-frosted crystal decanter and small raised bumps to represent the rivets of a copper still:

Most recently (prior to the 65yo) came this 62yo at 53.1% ABV, to celebrate The Macallan's "Spiritual Home", aka Easter Elchies House (where Steph and I enjoyed a wonderful lunch last year):

Brand Director for The Macallan Ken Grier was in Hong Kong for the launch (we'll have our in-depth interview up in the next few weeks), and talked guests through the series, focusing on both the whisky and the partnership with Lalique.

Whilst many might see the bottles as "fancy packaging", hearing Ken talk about the partnership, and viewing the bottles up close, showed us two things - firstly, the decanters are absolutely incredible, with amazing attention to detail. When Ken mentioned that each is hand-made by up to 15 Lalique staff, we weren't surprised - it shows.

Secondly, it's clear the Lalique partnership is one founded in mutual respect and admiration for the "crafted" nature of each others' products, as opposed to being an opportunity for each to cash in on the other's name.

After Ken's introduction, we took a brief stroll around the venue (which we're told typically hosts art exhibits - very fitting) to see the displays representing each of the Six Pillars, along with a display of Lalique works (vases, perfume bottles etc..) which each showed off certain elements or techniques that had been re-used in The Macallan in Lalique range.

Taking our seats for the lunch, we were presented with a stunning 3 course menu (made even more stunning by the final whisky):

The Macallan theming was strong too, with plates, napkin rings, napkins and even the cutlery all bearing The Macallan's Easter Elchies house (aka the "Spiritual Home") imagery.

Edrington's event catering never fails to disappoint, and today was no exception, with the wagyu tenderloin being a particular highlight, and an especially good (yet unexpected) match with the Fine Oak 17yo.

Of course, we took some time out between courses to inspect the whisky for which we were all gathered - The Macallan 65yo in Lalique "The Peerless Spirit" decanter. Limited to 450 bottles, the whisky was distilled in November 1950 and aged in just two ex-Sherry American oak casks, bottled after 65 years at a cask strength of 46.3% ABV.

Using a "blown and pinched" technique, the decanter really is a work of art up close - although obviously for us, the liquid inside is the true work of art.

Back to our seats just in time for dessert, matched with a Hong Kong favourite, the Rare Cask. The Rare Cask was a well-chosen match, with the dessert bringing out some of the whisky's sweeter, chocolate notes, and pairing well with the strawberry ice cream and caramel "leaves":

Following dessert, and after a thorough palate-cleansing, we were as mentioned fortunate enough to taste The Macallan 65yo in Lalique. Full tasting notes will be up tomorrow in a separate post, but in a nutshell, it was an incredible whisky, with none of the overly-oaky traits we've seen on other 40 or 50+ year old whiskies before.

‘The Peerless Spirit’ decanter will retail for £23,000 / $35,000USD, and is limited to 450 bottles. It will be available in Hong Kong from this month.

Additionally, in January 2017 Edrington Hong Kong will put up a complete set of The Macallan in Lalique decanters, with all proceeds to be donated to charity (50% to HK-based charities and 50% to other Asia-based charities). We're told the set will be housed in a bespoke, yet-to-be created Lalique crystal cabinet, with additional items not available with the individual bottlings. We're also told the cabinet will contain a "secret drawer" with hidden whiskies! Have your chequebooks ready...

TimeforWhisky.com would like to thank Edrington Hong Kong for a truly fantastic and one of a kind event, to celebrate the launch of this incredible whisky.

Cheers,

Martin.