The Macallan unveiled a new immersive experience to celebrate the launch of their latest travel retail exclusive collection, The Macallan Colour Collection. Dates were extremely limited, with the exhibition in London only running for 4 days from 30th August to 2nd September, at £50 a person. The exhibition could be seen elsewhere in Dubai, LA and Singapore.

Upon entering Somerset House for the Macallan Colours Collection exhibition, we were warmly welcomed and treated to a delightful sherry jelly to kick things off. It was a lovely way to start the exhibition whilst we waited for the other guests and it encompassed all the usual sherry flavours, but in a jelly – After a few minutes George, our Macallan Ambassador for London, introduced himself and explained the agenda.

The exhibition showcased the new Macallan Colours Collection, a new travel exclusive collection that also featured the new Macallan logo designed by David Carson, featuring curves within the logo that embody the design shell of the Macallan distillery. 

Macallan describe the Colours Collection as an artistic collaboration with David Carson, who brought the tasting notes of each age expression to life while capturing the warm, natural hues of the Sherry region in the packaging and campaign artwork.

We firstly entered a multi-sensory walk through that showcased the years of the Macallan bottles on display for the Colour Collection; this being the 12, 15, 18, 21 and 30 Year Olds, which have been matured with a mixture of American Oak and European Oak casks. It was great to see the 21 Year Old back in the line-up as it was previously discontinued, and it’s sure to be a sought after whisky at least for the medium term. 

We then made our way through to a second room, where a video featuring David Carson explained his ideation and inspiration for the Colours Collection. From there we walked through to what essentially represented David’s studio and the thought process that went into creating a unique piece of work for the collection. It was interesting to see the layout and way ideas were shaped for the collection, as well as some of the key colours that went into the collection. 

From there we were invited upstairs to a room where we were welcomed with a delicious whisky cocktail that featured the new Macallan 12. Then we wandered around a room that had smart and informative billboards covering each whisky in the Colours Collection range. Each whisky by age features a slightly different colour, with the earlier expressions showcasing colours of yellow to represent the citrusy notes, whilst the older expressions such as the 30 Year Old were crowned with a burgundy cap to highlight the influence of wine in this age statement. 

We then wandered up some stairs and into a room that capped the reason we were all there – to taste some whisky. We were invited to try the 12, 15 and 18 Year Old whiskies, along with some canapés that were specifically prepared to compliment the age statements by guest chef Sally Abe. 

We first tried the Macallan 12, which exuded aromas of lemon peel before being hit with what can only be described as notes of lemon tart and orchard fruits. For a 12 year-old whisky, this dram demonstrated good value for money. George was superb with his evaluation and expertly welcomed the room for input. 

Moving onto the 15-year-old we encountered elements of ginger and toffee on the nose, complimented by some of the citrus notes we got on the 12 year-old along with some vanilla and peach, before being left with a strong finish of more citrus and some cinnamon. 

The last whisky we got to try was the 18-year-old and undoubtedly the most anticipated. The Macallan 18 is a real beacon in the whisky world, it’s a whisky that all collectors want to try. On the nose, the first notes that greeted us were the ones that we longed for from a great sherry cask whisky, in the form of orange peel and ginger. On the palate, we got this really oily embrace with lashings of vanilla, some honeycomb and more ginger, before finishing with orange oils. The 18-year-old was a fantastic dram, it had everything you hope for in a good Macallan and it left us wondering what the 21 and 30 Year Old whiskies could offer.

We savoured the last drops of whisky and delectable canapes (the olive tapenade that complimented the 18 Year Old was the winner) before heading downstairs and seeing the full range of the colour collection in full. Whether you’re a seasoned whisky connoisseur or a novice, for £50 a head the exhibition proved to be a great day out and it offered attendees the chance to try some new and exquisite whiskies. 

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