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The 10 Most Limited Whiskies from the Macallan Fine & Rare Series

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T he Macallan Fine & Rare is the most premium range of Scotch whiskies from the world’s most revered distillery. Each bottle in the series is vintage-specific and bears an age statement. The oldest bottle in the collection is the 1926, which was bottled at 60 Years Old. This is the most valuable bottle ever sold at auction.

The Fine & Rare series is so named due to its high quality, with focus on sherry-matured whiskies, and the limited nature of its bottlings. There are 12 vintage expressions for which only 100 bottles or less were produced. There are 29 for which fewer than 200 bottles exist. Here is a rundown of the 10 rarest bottlings in this series.

Past Auction
The Legacy Collection | Fine & Rare Whisky From A Distinguished Cellar
11 May 2023 | 10:00 AM EDT | New York

Sotheby’s Spotlight: The Legacy Collection | Fine & Rare Whisky From A Distinguished Cellar

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The 10 Most Limited Whiskies from the Macallan Fine & Rare Series

  • The Macallan Fine & Rare 30 Year Old 51.0 abv 1975
    89 bottle equivalents

    This 1975 vintage was bottled from single cask #8845 in 2005, meaning that it was a relatively late edition to the collection (as the original vintages were bottled in 2002). This first sold at Sotheby’s as part of The Ultimate Whisky Collection in 2019. Very few of these bottles have been seen at auction in history.
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  • The Macallan Fine & Rare 15 Year Old 42.5 abv 1963
    83 bottle equivalents

    This 1963 vintage is what we would describe as a “re-bottling.” A number of the bottles within the Fine & Rare stable were appropriate from previously bottled stock (generally considered to be Gordon & MacPhail’s bottlings). This whisky was originally bottled in 1978, but was subsequently re-bottled and re-labeled for the Fine & Rare collection in 2009 as another relatively late edition. Not one, but two of these bottles are contained within The Legacy Collection .
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  • The Macallan Fine & Rare 29 Year Old 49.2 abv 1972
    64 bottle equivalents

    The first of the 2002 bottlings in this rundown, the 1972 vintage is one of the darkest whiskies in the Fine & Rare collection, meaning it has undergone intense wood-interaction during its sherry cask maturation. The Macallan’s official tasting notes describe this whisky as having a “classic sherried dried fruit notes of raisins and prunes,” while the palate displays “dried fruits and rich Spanish oak wood spices with a subtle aniseed, nutty character.”
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  • The Macallan Fine & Rare 40 Year Old 43.0 abv 1939
    58 bottle equivalents

    Not only is this 1939 expression rare in terms of its bottle outturn, it is also a time capsule for The Macallan’s production at the outbreak of the Second World War. WWII dramatically affected whisky production in Scotland, closing down almost every distillery in the country so that they could be repurposed to help with the war effort. Distilleries became oil refineries or uniform manufacturers, while whisky was largely put out of commission. In 1945 when the stills were reinstated, processes were forced to change, creating detectable differences between The Macallan’s pre- and post-war vintages.
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  • The Macallan Fine & Rare 15 Year Old 46.2 abv 1956
    57 bottle equivalents

    Another re-bottling, this expression was originally filled into glass in 1971 before finally joining the Fine & Rare in 2009, again slightly late to the party. The official tasting notes state that this whisky’s nose presents “sweet ginger spice, dried fruit and peat,” which shows that not only the 1940s but also the 50s vintages contain remnants of peated kilns.
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  • The Macallan Fine & Rare 15 Year Old 47.0 abv 1960
    54 bottle equivalents

    Another late edition to the Fine & Rare series, having been added 7 years after its inauguration, this 1960 vintage was again bottled at 15 years of age. At the time of this distillation, The Macallan were only operating six small stills. It wasn’t until later in this decade that they doubled production capacity to twelve stills.
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  • The Macallan Fine & Rare 35 Year Old 43.0 abv 1938
    48 bottle equivalents

    Another of the pre-war vintages from the series, this expression is notable for its high age statement. Most “re-bottled” Fine & Rare whiskies were bottled at 15 years old, however this whisky bears an age statement of 35 years and is not to be confused with the far more common 31 Year Old (198 bottle equivalents). This shows incredible prescience from the bottler given that the single-malt market was only in its very early stages in 1973 and bottling at this age was extremely rare.
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  • The Macallan Fine & Rare 15 Year Old 47.3 abv 1961
    22 bottle equivalents

    One of the rarest bottles in the series, the 1961 vintage has only come to auction twice, both times at Sotheby’s. A 75cl version was sold in New York, however it made its debut as a 70cl bottle at The Ultimate Whisky Collection in 2019. In this auction it sold for the second highest price for any bottle in the series, eclipsed only by the 1926.
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  • The Macallan Fine & Rare 15 Year Old 45.9 abv 1957
    15 bottle equivalents

    The 1957 comes into this list at number 2, however it is actually the rarest bottle in the series. While it is stated that there are 15 bottle equivalents, it is believed that not even half of these have been released into the market and only 2 were ever bottled as 75cl for the American market. This bottle has only been seen twice ever at auction, the second time being as part of The Legacy Collection at Sotheby’s.
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  • The Macallan Fine & Rare 60 Year Old 42.6 abv 1926
    14 bottles

    And the winner is… You guessed it. The 1926 needs little introduction as it seems to transcend the world of whisky collection. This is known as the most valuable bottle of whisky in the world, after it sold at Sotheby’s in 2019 for $1.9m. At 60 Years old, it is the oldest expression in the Fine & Rare series both by vintage and by age statement. While only 14 bottles were produced with the Fine & Rare label, The Macallan actually produced a total of 40 bottles of this liquid. The remaining 26 bottles were labelled differently, with 12 designed by pop artist Sir Peter Blake, 12 by Italian artist Valerio Adami and 2 sold at auction with no label at all. One of these went on to be painted my Michael Dillon, while the whereabouts of the other remains a mystery.
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