The Macallan Gran Reserva is a simultaneously iconic yet confusing series of bottlings from our celebrity Speyside Scotch distillery.

Now, the Macallan has no shortfall of iconic bottlings - might even have the most quite honestly, and is really why it sometimes almost feels like Macallan knows it and couches it. It's not all marketing - okay, maybe it is some of that, but nobody in Scotland does it better than Macallan. The distillery ensures that every year, it's series after series, almost playing the Power Law, where if one strikes gold, that's enough to justify 99 duds.

But that strategy works, and since its first single malt expression in 1984 (which isn't even that long ago), no brand has racked up as many iconic bottlings. That trophy case is what underpins the brand's confidence to keep tossing out new release after new release with little to no fear of what might be thought of the brand. It's really one of those bigger-is-better, any-publicity-is-good-publicity, Keeping-Up-With-The-Kardashian's marketing strategy. And yet, as I've mentioned ad nauseam - it works.

Macallan if anything is a master of throwing out iconic releases that are almost geared at breaking auction records. It's a bigger-is-better, any-publicity-is-good-publicity, Keeping-Up-With-The-Kardashian's marketing strategy - that works. (Image Source: Bloomberg)

In fact, it sometimes even feels like Macallan wants its fair share of haters, so that it gets the people going. More talk - any talk - is good PR. And so the distillery daringly keeps on with the ever more luxury-centric releases (how many have come in Lalique crystal decanters now?), the ever bigger price tags, the seemingly permanent NAS fixtures. 

So love it or hate it, Macallan wants you to think of them.

Back to the Gran Reserva, it's one of those releases that have become an iconic part of the Macallan trophy case - the real Gran Reserva, that is.

A quick search will show you that the first Gran Reserva is the 1979 edition released in 1997. This would be followed by three more sequentially chronological editions - 1980, 1981 and 1981, which were released from 1999 to 2002, all at the bottom range of the permissible ABV for Scotch, 40% ABV (we can talk about this another time). All four editions carried a somewhat old school label with cursive typefaces and a vintage sort of aesthetic, not anything you'd see on a Macallan today.

(Image Source: Bonhams)

And then somehow or rather, in 2007 and 2017, two more Gran Reserva's popped out - a 12 Year Old and a 15 Year Old respectively, both donning a more modern aesthetic, closer to what we'd identify to be a Macallan today.

Now where the hell did these come from. They looked nothing like the original series and the 12 Year Old saw a massive outturn of 90,000 bottles, while the 15 Year Old had an outturn of 1,500 bottles. The 12 Year Old was bottled at 45.6% ABV and the 15 Year Old at 43% ABV. It's as if the word consistency meant nothing.

As it turns out, the 12 Year Old Gran Reserva - or shall we call it "Gran Reserva" or Gran Gran Reserva; how do we even demarcate these? - was a Japan and Taiwan exclusive.

The only replica here is the words "Gran Reserva" (Image Source: Bonhams)

I suppose given the fame of the original Gran Reserva's, a mirrored version or a replica would've been a big hit - except this looked nothing like the original version.

So what is this then? I've little to no clue.

What I will tell you that might be of some interest is that most people don't know that in the 1980s; when the Scotch industry was facing a severe bust, which is what catalysed Macallan's move into single malts, and perhaps most astutely into a brand identity carved out of using ex-Sherry casks; Japan's Suntory has purchased 25% of Macallan's whisky stocks. The remaining 75% was purchased by Highland Distillers which was later purchased by Edrington and William Grant & Sons. Till today, Suntory continues to hold at least a 25% stake in Macallan under Beam Suntory, and even moved to purchase a 10% stake in Edrington in 2020, which should in theory increase its total stake in Macallan.

It's not that Suntory's ownership of Macallan should be a surprise to anyone in and of itself, but rather how little Suntory has interfered with Macallan that is really what is surprising. Just take a gander at Bowmore, which drinkers often speak of pre- and post- Suntory era bottlings.

As such, I suppose then for Suntory to have Macallan rehash some old hits for the Japan market isn't really that big of an ask.

Which brings us to today's bottle, said Macallan 2007 Japan & Taiwan Release 12 Year Old Gran Reserva - yes, the one with the ridiculously huge outturn (I've read some bits of information that this was actually spread across a couple of batches that made its way to various Asian markets including Korea).

It's matured in first-fill Oloroso Sherry casks and given that the Gran Reserva is meant to really emphasise Macallan's use of Sherry casks, I'm expecting a Sherry bomb right here.

Macallan Gran Reserva 12 Year Old, 45.6% ABV, 2007 Japan & Taiwan Release - Review

Color: Dark Copper

Aroma: Soft notes of old worn leather, mulled wine with a touch more tannic and woody. Then more on prunes, raisins, blackberry, lingonberry, nutmeg, cinnamon - richer and more of stewed fruits and boiled off sugar. There is a whiff of sulfur, the perils of an intense sherry focus. Finally, walnuts and cardamom. At times it shows alittle more solvent-y, or perhaps on varnish or lacquer.

Taste: A lot lighter bodied than you'd expect. Lightly tingly sensation, with a more granulated sweet, spiced and spicy mulled wine. Not too far off from fruit jam, with dark grape skins. There's that woody tannins again - more astringency. Szechuan peppercorns with that characteristic numbing tingle. It  continues on to become alittle more umami - I'm thinking soy sauce, thick meaty cuts of shiitake mushrooms. Finally some grapefruit bitterness and salt cured ham - which could also be the sulfur.

Finish: Short. But there are bits of light honey, light fruit jam, But really, more woody and astringent, and yes, perhaps shiitake mushrooms?

My Thoughts

In a world of Sherry-everything, this is Sherry overkill. It's too young, over-Sherried and over-oaked. In fact, for all the Sherry-ness, this little number took all the parts we don't want to see in a Sherry-matured whisky - the sulfur, the woody astringency, and then dispensed with the stuff we do want to see - the rich dark berries, the fruitcake, the chocolate and espresso. In terms of texture, it was alot lighter than you would hope and not quite the smoothness exuded by the distillery's cinematic ambassador James Bond.

With a low age statement, a huge outturn - this re-release of the "Gran Reserva" is definitely not Macallan's best work, and that's putting it kindly. Ironically of the gran total of five iterations bearing the "Gran Reserva" name, this carries the highest ABV - which goes to show that ABV isn't everything.

Kanpai!

@111hotpot