Macallan-Bentley collaboration on exclusive whisky drives home luxury

The whisky maker and automaker partnered up to produce a super-exclusive whisky, which made its Asian debut in Korea.

Edrington’s managing director of the North Asian region, Martin Jaime, poses for the camera next to a bottle of The Macallan Horizon after an interview with the local press ahead of the launch held at the Bentley Tower in Dongdaemun District, eastern Seoul. [PARK SANG-MOON]

At first glance, a whisky distillery and a carmaker might seem to share little in common, but a closer look at The Macallan and Bently proves otherwise.

Both are based in Britain, have a long history and understanding of their fields, and have solidified their statuses as luxury manufacturers aligned with a high-end lifestyle.

A collaboration brought the two brands together to form a limited edition single malt Scotch whisky, The Macallan Horizon. The special 700-milliliter (24-fluid-ounce) bottle was unveiled and released in Korea on Wednesday, marking the drink's Asian debut.

“The partnership of The Macallan and Bentley was founded on looking for two iconic British brands,” Edrington’s managing director of the North Asian region, Martin Jaime, said during an interview with the local press ahead of the launch held at the Bentley Tower in Dongdaemun District, eastern Seoul. Edrington is the Glasgow-based company behind spirits brands The Macallan, Highland Park and The Glenrothes.

"Seoul was an obvious choice [for the Asian launch] as Korea is one of our top 10 key countries globally," he said, adding that Korea is one of the "top five" biggest markets for The Macallan.

And the glaringly counterintuitive nature of the collaboration — that consumers should not be driving any vehicle, much less a Bentley, after drinking spirits — did not stop the work.

A bottle of The Macallan Horizon made in conjunction with Bentley [CHO YONG-JUN]

“We certainly do not want to encourage drunk driving,” Edrington’s North Asia managing director said, adding that there are “designated drivers at all of the events” hosted by the company.

“It’s more so that you can enjoy a nice glass at home once you get to your destination; or carry this bottle [with] a Bentley to gift to someone else."

The Macallan Horizon is a horizontally standing single malt whisky that is 46.6 percent alcohol by volume. But unlike many other whiskies, including the brand’s signature 12-year, 15-year, and 18-year bottles, the Horizon's age is unspecified. It uses six different sherry-seasoned casks, chosen by the brand’s whisky maker to “evoke a taste” that best represents both Macallan and Bentley.

The company explains in the bottle’s extensive tasting notes that the dark-mahogany colored drink smells of oak, plum, dark cherry with “aromatic fresh leather and a herbal, leafy note followed by […] dried fruits,” while the palate was described as “dark treacle notes with cinder toffee, crystallized ginger and charred pineapple” followed by sweet vanilla, “dark chocolate coated Brazil nuts and a warming oak spice.”

Or, as the Edrington managing director puts it for the layman, a “smooth” flavor followed by a "pleasant-feeling alcohol burn."

"It's definitely not like a hard liquor that hits your head."

A bottle of The Macallan Horizon made in conjunction with Bentley [PARK SANG-MOON]

What’s more complex than the bottle’s tasting notes is the striking exterior that houses the liquid, as The Horizon, designed and engineered with Bentley, is designed from the ground up to be stored and presented in an unusual horizontal manner — the traditionally less desirable way to store alcohol as the drink should avoid contact with the cork that seals the bottle.

The company went as far as designing a special cap that doesn't use a cork. Instead, the bottle uses a special wood and aluminum-made cover, of which the wood originated from Macallan's liquid casks.

The Horizon also borrows signature elements each brand, including aluminum, leather and wood veneer — like that used in Bentley vehicles — followed by a copper frame made from recycled material from The Macallan’s old distillery that hugs the bottle.

The two brands also share another — perhaps less expected — goal of creating a sustainable future. Bentley aims to go end-to-end carbon neutral by 2030 by running its factories on green energy, releasing one new fully electric Bentley model per year starting in 2025 and more. The company even ended the production of its signature W12 engines last month to replace it with downsized hybridized powertrains.

A bottle of The Macallan's Horizon made in conjunction with Bentley [PARK SANG-MOON]

The pursuit of sustainability started earlier with the premium whisky brand, though.

“The survival of The Macallan hinges 100 percent on the survival of the planet and the environment around us,” Jaime said, explaining that the “three simple ingredients” of The Macallan — yeast, water and the oak sherry cask — all come from nature.

“There’s nothing else in there and the way we get to this liquid is through the passage of time; therefore, we need an environment which is healthy; we need weather in this space which is healthy [and] we need a sustainable environment for the quality,” he said, adding that they “have an obsession” with sustainability “for the survival of Macallan.”

The brand, for a more constant and sustainable supply of oak casks, has acquired stakes in a Spanish bodega and built a new distillery in 2018. But this doesn't mean that the whisky brand is doubling its production any time soon.

“We said we were going to make less whisky because we want our whisky to be of exceptional quality,” the managing director said. “The new distillery was designed with double the production capacity, in theory, but we have not done that.”

“I think we have a good balance of supply and demand.”

Edrington’s managing director of the North Asian region Martin Jaime and Roh Dong-kyu, founder of D&P Spirits, The Macallan's official importer and distributor in Korea, poses for the camera during an interview with the local press ahead of the launch held at the Bentley Tower in Dongdaemun District, eastern Seoul. [PARK SANG-MOON][PARK SANG-MOON]

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]