The Macallan releases new Sherry cask expression

Scotch whisky brand The Macallan has launched a new, limited edition, 40-year-old expression aged in Sherry casks.

The whisky is the latest spirit in the distillery’s ‘Sherry Oak’ range and only 500 bottles have been released. It is also only the second non-vintage release of a 40-year-old spirit from The Macallan.

The whisky was bottled from just one cask held back by the distillery’s master whisky maker, Bob Dalgarno in 2006. In the first half of that year Dalgarno and his team were set the task of marrying 10 casks for the annual release of The Macallan 30-year-old Sherry Oak.

However, one of the casks’-worth was held back when Dalgarno suspected the spirit could do with a further period of ageing.

When it was 35-years-old in 2011 the liquid was reassessed and the decision was made to keep it in cask longer still until it was finally bottled as a 40-year-old this year.

“This whisky owes its very existence to the insight and intuition of Bob Dalgarno,” says Geoff Kirk, director of prestige for The Macallan. “The additional decade of careful maturation through to 2016 has produced an outstanding and distinct single malt to add to the collection of rich, mature expressions from The Macallan.  We relished the careful attention that has gone into creating The Macallan 40-years-old.”

The whisky has an RRP of US$8,000/£6,300