For more than three centuries, The Macallan Edition 2 has called the Easter Elchies House, perched on a ridge above the banks of the River Spey, their spiritual home. Sir Lewis Grant of Grant rented the house to Alexander Reid in 1820. As a farmer, Reid quickly planted barley in the fields around the house. He then built the first authorized distillery on the property, which he called Macallan after an old church that had burned down in the fifteenth century. Reid would ferment and distill his excess grains into whisky during the winter, when the farm was not as busy. This whisky was frequently consumed straight from the still or sold to tourists who were traveling through the town.

Currently, 95 of the 370 acres of the Macallan Estate are used for the production of Minstrel barley (an acre yields around 2.5 tons of barley year, which is sufficient to make 1,800 bottles of The Macallan). To produce a richer, heavier whisky, the distillery also enters into agreements with farmers to buy barley that is high in starch and low in nitrogen.

In late August and early September, the barley is harvested, malted, and then mashed in one of The Macallan’s two mash tuns, a process that takes four to eight hours. Following fermentation with a specially cultivated yeast, the barley is twice distilled using copper-pot stills at The Macallan. As a catalyst, the copper that makes up the stills promotes the production of delicious esters while reducing contaminants like sulfur. Furthermore, production manager Alexander Tweedie claims that the oddly tiny stills, which are among “the smallest stills within the Scotch whisky industry,” yield a whisky with a rich, greasy flavor scotch whiskey buy.

After distillation, the Macallan distillers separate the whisky’s heads and tails and reserve around 16% of the spirit to put into maturation casks. This “cut,” one of the highest of any Scottish distillery, makes the whisky richer and fuller.

The second in the prestigious distillery’s yearly limited-edition series is Macallan Edition No. 2 Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky. The Roca brothers, whose restaurant El Celler de Can Roca has won two awards for finest restaurant in the world, and Bob Dalgarno, the Macallan Master Whisky Maker, collaborated on Edition No. 2.

The Macallan Edition 2, which is slightly lighter than other bottles from same distillery, smells sweetly of apple, ginger, and vanilla. With a lengthy and smooth finish that is full of brown sugar, nutmeg, and a hint of chocolate, the palate adds even more warmth, along with notes of cracked black pepper and velvety richness.

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Notes on Tasting

sweet scent of toffee, apple, and vanilla. After a long and smooth finish full of brown sugar, nutmeg, and a hint of chocolate, the palate adds more warmth, spice, and complexity while maintaining a silky richness throughout.