The flavor of cinnamon in wine of Lower Volga

Whisky is emphatically a product of place. The flavours in the glass conjure images of the spirit’s origin, from an Islay malt’s distinctive peat smoke to the exotic perfume of a Japanese blend. Traditionally, however, that local accent is lost when spirit is filled into cask. The vast majority of Scotch malts and blends, for example, are matured in oak sourced from thousands of miles away, and previously used to age bourbon or Sherry. Some whiskies might venture into more exotic territory. Thin ...

The spirit was filled into a single ex-Sherry cask at the Speyside distillery in 1940, shortly before The Second World War forced The Macallan to close for the first time in its history. Bottled at 41.6% abv, only 288 decanters are available worldwide, featuring eye-catching packaging: a mouth-blown glass decanter sitting on a bronze sculpture of three hands, created by Scottish artist Saskia Robinson. The hands represent the distillery workers of 1940 who made the whisky; former Macallan chairm ...

The new blend, jointly developed by Button and Taiwan-based drinks consultant George Koutsakis, is named after the historic process of designing and hand building the bodywork for a luxury car. It brings together malt and grain whiskies from the five main regions of Scotland: Islay, Campbeltown, Speyside, the Highlands and the Lowlands, before being married together and extra matured in ex-sherry casks and finally bottled at 46% Button, who also last year revived the fortunes of the formerly def ...