£28,500.00
MACALLAN 'The Archival Series' Full set of Folio 1 to 7
The Macallan Folio 1 is a limited edition that was released exclusively at the Macallan Distillery in 2015. This is one of only 2000 bottles produced of the first bottling in this series.
Folio 1 is the first release in a 24 part series that celebrates and revisits The Macallan’s original print, press and film advertising campaign; mapping the story of The Macallan from a remote farmstead on the River Spey to a whisky that is enjoyed around the world.
As with all the Folio releases, the bottle is presented in an elegant book-shaped tin box.
The Macallan Folio 2 was a 2017 limited release from Macallan that was only available from the distillery. The distillery staff confirmed that the liquid is 12 years old, sherry cask matured and limited 2000 bottles. Although none of these details are stated on the packaging.
The second in a range of whiskies recreating the old advertising styles of Macallan, the front is adorned with a watercolour image done by Artist Sara Midda, who’s works are synonymous with Macallan of the 1990s and early 2000s.
The Macallan Folio 3‘s theme is Macallan advertising campaigns from the 1980’s and 1990’s, and the presentation includes a book containing the best of these. The illustration on the box is from an advert used in a Victorian era edition of Punch magazine, and is intended to capture the notion that whisky is best produced in cold weather, a remark that Macallan claim was made on their very own estate at Easter Elchies.
The Macallan Folio 4 features an advertisement including a Strathspey composed by James Scott Skinner (1843-1927). The ad notes that Skinner, “The Strathspey King”, was moved to music by the lilting flavour and melting resonances of a tumbler of his favourite malt whisky – The Macallan.
The ad, small but ground breaking, was the first instance of musical notation displayed on a page of British newspaper, The Times, and quite possibly in the advertising of any whisky.
The Macallan Folio 5 features an advertisement depicting a deerstalker cap or “Luggy Bonnet”. The wearer is urged to keep the knot tightly fastened securing the earflaps in in case you were to miss an offer of a dram of Macallan.
Due to Macallan’s popularity, the advertisement was considered a waste of time on British soil.
The Macallan Folio 6 features the character of The Chairman. He is dressed as a Scotsman dancing the Highland fling over a pen and brush which were the symbols of the distilleries publicity advisers Holmes and Salaman. The Macallan Chairman Allan Shiach would occasionally suggest ideas to the team and the two departments would often clash. Shiach’s addition of The Chairman character was a polite reminder to his publicity advisers that he would always have the final say.
The Macallan Folio 7 explores one of their legendary advertising campaigns from 1986, ‘The Boffins Baffled’, which tells the story of a party of scientists who were left positively baffled when asked why The Macallan was so special.
THE BOFFINS BAFFLED: A beautiful and deliciously quirky, interpretation of the story of our exceptional whisky, slumbering patiently in sherry seasoned oak casks. The Macallan Directors of the time invited a party of scientists to unravel the story as to why The Macallan was so special, but they were left positively baffled. No scientific rationale could account for the magic which took place inside of the casks, so the Boffins insisted on taking extra whisky back to the laboratory – all in the name of ‘research’.
MACALLAN 'The Archival Series' Full set of Folio 1 to 7
One of the original farm distilleries of Speyside, Macallan became legal in 1824 when Alexander Reid obtained (or was persuaded to obtain) one of the new licences issued after the passing of the 1823 Excise Act. In 1868, James Stuart took the lease and rebuilt the plant. His ownership ended in 1892, when he sold Macallan to one of the giants of Victorian distilling, Roderick Kemp, who had previously owned Talisker. Kemp’s descendants – in particular the Shiach family – retained ownership until the 1996 takeover by Highland Distillers (now Edrington).
The plant has continually been expanded from its original wooden shed with two stills. It was increased to five stills (two wash, three spirit) in 1954 and then more significantly in 1965 when a new stillhouse with seven stills was built. This process continued throughout the 1970s with the total number of stills reaching 21 by 1975.
For a distillery which has become synonymous with the growth of single malt, it is worth remembering that Macallan has always been an important malt for blending. It wasn’t until the early 1980s, faced with a downturn in the market for fillings, that Macallan decided to focus more strongly on the then new single malt category.
The management team of Allan Shiach, Frank Newlands, Hugh Mitcalfe and Willie Phillips oversaw a campaign which both positioned the malt as a 'first-growth whisky' it called 'the Cognac of whisky', while always retaining a somewhat bohemian and irreverent approach to advertising and promotion.
A firm belief in the fusion of the oily, heavy, new make style and ex-Sherry casks saw Macallan, under Edrington’s governance, become the first distillery to create so-called ‘bespoke’ casks: selecting specific trees (predominantly in northern Spain, though some American oak is specified), and then with Jerez-based cooper Tevasa specifying the length and nature of drying, type of coopering, the liquid used for seasoning (oloroso) and the duration of that process. Investment in wood has increased significantly in recent years, with a complex of massive warehouses being built on the estate.
In recent years, a greater emphasis has been placed on the nascent luxury whisky market with bottlings of 50- and 60-year-old Macallan in Lalique decanters, the creation of the Fine & Rare vintage range dating back to 1926, and the Masters of Photography series.
This has not been without controversy. Its growing status as a collectable malt saw Macallan become the victim of fakers in the late 1990s. The subsequent investigation has, however, helped establish a methodology to check the authenticity of suspicious bottlings.
On a whisky-making front, 2004 saw the introduction of Fine Oak, where American oak ex-Sherry casks and some ex-Bourbon casks were used in a mirror range to the ‘classic’ 100% ex-Sherry range. Though old Macallan lovers protested, the lighter, sweeter, flavour profile brought in new drinkers, mostly in new markets.
The 1824 Range, a four-strong series not carrying age statements which replaced some of the younger expressions in the portfolio, followed in 2013, using whisky colour as a communication and branding device.
The second stillhouse was brought back on stream in 2008, and in 2013 it was announced that a completely new, £100m distillery was to be built.
The new distillery – a distinctive subterranean design – was commissioned on 9 November 2017 and opened officially in May 2018, at a final cost of £140m.
| Weight | 40 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 40 × 120 × 40 cm |
