The Macallan Marks Its 200th Anniversary With a Smoky 73 Year Old Release

Alexander Reid was a Speyside barley farmer and school teacher. In 1820, he began renting the Easter Elchies House on the eastern banks of the River Spey. He planted barley there and in 1824 opened a licensed distillery that came to be called Macallan—thought to be named after an ancient church nearby. Macallan is now toasting its 200th anniversary with a very Macallan-esque tour de force—an ultra-limited, ultra-aged release that channels those roots.

Tales of The Macallan Volume II was distilled in 1949 and bottled in 2022, and the unveiling was held to coincide with the anniversary year. The 73 year old whisky, bottled at 44.8% ABV, is punctuated by lingering smokiness, according to tasting notes from whisky maker Euan Kennedy. That’s designed to evoke the scotches made in Alexander Reid’s day and is a marked departure from today’s Macallan, which contains no peat. The 81 year old Macallan The Reach, which set an auction record back in 2022, was distilled in 1940 and also has smoky overtones, attributable to the fact that Macallan used peat when malting its barley and firing its stills in those days.

Tales of the Macallan Volume II is encased in a bespoke crystal decanter made by French glassmaker Lalique—a longtime partner of Macallan, with noted collaborations such as The Six Pillars collection and Macallan 72 year old In Lalique. Each decanter is housed within an 800-page almanac telling Reid’s story that also doubles as a case. The almanac was made by a team of traditional London bookbinders and features illustrations from British artist Andrew Davidson.

Only 334 decanters were produced, and each with a $89,000 price tag. While that price squarely puts this bottling out of reach for the vast majority of whisky drinkers, it may be appealing to some high-end collectors. It’s worth noting that Tales of the Macallan Volume I, a 1950 vintage single malt in a Lalique decanter and almanac case, sold for just north of $93,000 in August of 2022—the 11th highest hammer price for that year. Volume I was also a commemorative release, released in late 2021 as a tribute to John Grant, Macallan’s key custodian after Reid. Bottles can be purchased directly from Macallan at the estate in Speyside, at one of the distillery’s boutiques that operate in Travel Retail around the world, and at select retailers.