Macallan Replica 1876 - 70cl/40.6%

This replica bottling was created to mimic a bottle of Macallan purportedly produced in 1876. It is one of four releases that also include replicas of bottles from 1841, 1874 and 1861.

It may be hard to imagine today, but for much of the 20th century, Macallan was primarily a constituent malt in blends. It was not until the 1980s downturn in the market that the distillery decided to focus on its single malt brand. Fortuitously, this coincided with the crest of a wave of enthusiasm for the high quality releases that the distillery had licensed to Campbell, Hope & King and Gordon & MacPhail in the 1960s and 1970s. These remain some of the most collectible on the market. While global single malt sales volume is still lead by Speyside neighbours, Glenfiddich and Glenlivet, Macallan is easily the most sought after. So much so in fact, that they had to open a brand new distillery in 2018, a subterranean architectural masterpiece within the Easter Elchies estate, boasting 36 copper pot stills.

The purpose of this series was to re-create the four antique expressions of Macallan in terms of bottle and label design, as well as to be an accurate re-creation of the whisky's nose and flavour. Several years after these replicas were released, it transpired that many of these bottles (which were purchased by Macallan) turned out to be fake. This release was one of those.

Despite this controversy, the collectability of these releases has only increased.