Meldrum House Country Hotel acquires £150k whisky by The Macallan

Meldrum House Country Hotel in Aberdeenshire has purchased ‘The Reach’ by The Macallan, a rare 81-year-old single malt, to sell in its 800-year-old Cave Bar.

Celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, The Macallan distilled the whisky during World War II in 1940 and has matured it for 81 years. Meldrum House will be the one of only two luxury Scottish hotels that have purchased the historic bottle, with the other being Gleneagles.

The special dram will be housed in the Whisky Club within the Cave Bar where 44 Whisky Club members have their lockers. Deep inside the Club Room, is a special carved out stone cave that would have been the bread oven in days gone by. The whisky will sit on a plinth behind glass to protect it, but specially lit for everyone to admire and view.

Presented in a mouth-blown decanter, ‘The Reach’ cradles on a bronze sculpture of three bronze hands. Designed by the sculptor Saskia Robinson, one hand commemorates the distillery workers of 1940 who crafted the spirit. Another is the hand of once chairman of The Macallan, Allan Shiach, whose grandfather headed up the company when the spirit was first consigned to its cask. The third is that of Master Whisky Maker, Kirsteen Campbell, who carefully selected the special cask used to create The Reach, and who decided that now was the right time to release the whisky.

The 800-year-old Cave Bar features over 120 rare and independent whiskies on offer.

Managing director at Meldrum House, Jordan Charles said; “This is one of the oldest expressions released by The Macallan to date and we’re extremely proud to have it displayed in our Cave Bar. It’s a chance for our guests to come and view this legendary and very special whisky in all its glory, whilst enjoying a dram, surrounded by our very own history of 800 years at the hotel.”