For as much as the best Scotch whisky on the planet is made to be imbibed, you might also say some bottles are worth saving: A new collection being sold by Mark Littler Ltd. certainly makes a persuasive claim that The Macallan Anniversary Malt has proven highly collectible.
Across nearly three decades, Italian collector Danielle Smeyers fell in love with the sherry cask-finished Anniversary Malt Collection, eventually owning a bottle from the entirety of its 1983-2004 run. The Macallan Anniversary Malt Vertical Collection from Smeyers bears a true mark of distinction as the only known complete set of the covetable Anniversary Malt series, and from a distillery known for its ultra high-end, rare launches (like its $190,000 Time: Space collection), the achievement proves rather remarkable. Of course, the complete set of 19 comes with a price tag to match: About $168,000, as Mark Littler Ltd. says
“I didn’t set out to build a complete set,” Smeyers said in a statement shared by the brand. “I just fell in love with Macallan and that first Anniversary Malt epitomized their whisky for me. Then one bottle led to another, and it quietly became a very enjoyable mission.” It’s worth noting that the very start of the Anniversary Malt series broke new ground entirely in the world of luxury Scotch, as the 1983 debut was a first-of-its-kind, vintage-dated, single-distillery release aged to 25 years (vintage distillations in the collection range in date from 1957 to 1975).
Cask finishing of the sherry variety is a simply excellent cornerstone and indeed, a specialty of The Macallan these days, but in the early years of the Anniversary Malt collection Mark Littler Ltd. notes that “the series redefined what aged whisky could be, laying the foundations for the modern luxury and ultra-aged single malt market.”
Each bottle features “exceptional fill levels” in the neck of the bottle, the whisky broker notes, and comes complete with its original wooden presentation box. That attention to detail and care alone is hard to replicate, Littler adds, along with the years and the consistency behind building such a collection. Each presentation box and label is a delight in its own right, with copy and packaging details exclusive to the Anniversary Malt series. As Mark Littler adds, the collection’s 19 bottles boast “a level of uniformity that is extraordinarily rare for a series of this age.”
The offering also includes a non-vintage 750ml release and a 700ml non-vintage release, with bottles showcasing a rich copper-amber color for which The Macallan is known. Whether these bottles will ever bear fruit and be poured is anyone’s guess entirely, but a lucky collector’s private stores of The Macallan are bound to take a big leap up in heritage and quality.
The whisky broker Littler has evaluated innumerable bottles across his career, and the company notes “this collection represents a rare opportunity to acquire the full lineage of a series that helped define premium Scotch whisky as a global luxury category.” Find out more about The Macallan Anniversary Malt Vertical Collection online now.
