A 73 year old Speyside single malt is the latest addition in The Red Collection, Macallan’s line of highly collectible releases inspired by the distillery’s history, tradition, and craftsmanship. Priced at $82,500, the newest member of The Red Collection was distilled in November 1950, bottled at 44.9%, and is the fifth release in the 8 bottle series aged for more than seven decades. Expressions from Macallan The Red Collection regularly feature in our auction coverage and monthly list of the 20-highest hammer prices. At the time of writing, auction results for expressions from The Red Collection aged for 60, 71, 74, 77, and 78 years are all in the running to land in our 20-highest hammer prices of 2024. Macallan has sufficient stock levels to maintain annual releases of The Red Collection 40, 50, and 60 year olds going forward, while the even older expressions are bottled only periodically.
A Brief Guide to Ultra-Aged Macallan
The Macallan Distillery, near Craigellachie on Speyside, is celebrating its bicentenary this year. It has a long track record of ultra-aged releases, rivaled only by Gordon & MacPhail. Shortly after Gordon & MacPhail released the first 80 year old single malt scotch, Macallan debuted The Reach 81 year old and it remains the oldest release to date. In addition to the five releases in The Red Collection that are over 70 years old, Macallan owner The Edrington Group released Macallan in Lalique 72 year old to mark the opening of the new Macallan Distillery in 2018. Tales of the Macallan I was a 71 year old distilled in 1950 and released in 2021, while the second release in the series, announced earlier this year, was a 73 year old distilled in 1949. The most famous Macallan 60 year old was distilled in 1926, and broke the record for the most expensive bottle of whisky ever sold at auction: Macallan Valerio Adami 1926 60 year old sold for $2.7 million in 2023.
Previous releases of Macallan aged 60 years or more include the Macallan Exceptional Single Cask 1950 bottled in 2018, and the last three releases in the original Six Pillars collection presented in Lalique crystal decanters, aged 60, 62, and 65 years old respectively. Macallans aged for 50 years or more are almost too numerous to mention but include examples in the Fine & Rare range, the first three releases of the Six Pillars collection, Anecdotes of Ages releases with Sir Peter Blake distilled in 1967, and stretches back to the 1949 50 year old Millennium Decanter and the Anniversary Malt 1928 50 year old releases. While there are very few whiskies more expensive than aged Macallan at this level, look out for bottlings of Speymalt from Macallan Distillery from Gordon & MacPhail. This range of vintage expressions includes whiskies aged up to 70 years old that can be acquired for a fraction of the price, giving connoisseurs a more affordable opportunity to taste liquid distilled at Macallan in the 1940s and 1950s. If you’re buying to invest in a collection you aspire to bring to auction one day, however, the official releases from Macallan are probably the ones to acquire and put aside.
The Macallan Red Collection 73 year old is a limited edition available from The Macallan Estate Boutique and Macallan’s global network of domestic and Travel Retail outlets. Collectors interested in purchasing Macallan The Red Collection 73 year old or other limited-edition releases should contact clientservices@themacallan.com.
