Agent 007 and Macallan
Her Majesty's most famous agent never shied away from alcohol. However, he usually aimed for the now iconic martini - shaken, not stirred. His boss, M, happened to reach for whisky. First it was Jack Daniel's, which appeared in the film Goldeneye (1995), after which the charismatic MI6 officer, then played by Judy Dench, reached for Talisker twice, in The World is not Enough (1999) and in Die Another Day (2002).
In 2012, exactly a decade ago, the film Skyfall first featured Macallan. And with what style! The scene in which Sévérine (played by the beautiful Bérénice Marlohe) dies at the hands of Silva was deeply memorable for all admirers of Agent 007. That's when Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) treats our hero (Daniel Craig) to a glass of Macallan 1962 Fine & Rare, noting that it's a 50-year-old Macallan, James Bond's favorite whiskey. As it seems, the evil character from the movie didn't know that you don't add years spent in the bottle to the age of the whisky - Macallan 1962 Fine & Rare is actually a 15-year-old whisky, although it was actually distilled 50 years before the plot of Skyfall, the year the first movie about Agent 007 hit the screens. This was the image of Doctor No, and the role of James Bond was then played for the first time by Sean Connery.
Macallan still appeared in another James Bond film, Spectre, which was released in 2015. At the time, our favorite agent was glaring at Macallan 18yo.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the release of the first film about Agent 007, which the Macallan distillery decided to honor with the release of a series of six new whiskeys, one for each decade of James Bond's presence on our screens. The labels and boxes featured motifs from each of the six Bond decades, each in a different color scheme. The whisky under the corks of all six bottles has a strength of 43.7% vol. According to the manufacturer, its aroma includes notes of citrus, vanilla, sorbet, coconut, dried figs and raisins. The taste should show accents of sorbet, lemon, oak, spice, dark chocolate, figs, apple cider and honey.
The Macallan James Bond 60th Anniversary Release set will be available soon through specialty stores, including travel retail, priced at £600.
It is worth recalling at this point that the Macallan distillery has for years been known as one of the most recognized producers of Scotch malt whisky. Her products have repeatedly broken price records at auctions. A new distillery, erected at a cost of £140 million and built according to an innovative, one-of-a-kind design, opened in 2017. Hidden beneath the turf- and grass-covered hills is a distillery with a production potential of 15 million liters of pure alcohol a year, placing it among the top producers of Scotch malt whisky. The new distillery was equipped with alembics of exactly the same size and shape as those that operated at the old distillery, located right next door.
The current offerings of the House of Whisky Online include an extremely a wide selection of Macallan brand whisky, including both the latest editions and old, collector's specimens. These include the Macallan 1962 Fine & Rare edition, the same one that "starred" in the movie Skyfall, as well as one of the oldest whiskeys ever bottled, namely the Macallan 78yo from The Red Collection series. We invite you to visit.
[28.09.2022 / photo: The Macallan]