Macallan Speymalt 2007

Gordon & MacPhail was established as a grocery store in the town of Elgin, right in the heart of Speyside the Scottish whisky industry in 1895. It wasn’t long before they started supporting the nearby whisky distilleries. G&M purchased barrels of single malt, aged them, then bottled them. G&M have been sending barrels to Macallan for filling for a hundred years and still have spirit from the 1930s in barrel. G&M called this Speymalt from Macallan. The tradition continues with the year the spirit is distilled and bottled shown on the label, rather than a minimum age statement, which might be a combination of several different aged barrels. The Macallan Speymalt 2007 certainly keeps the tradition rolling in a spectacular way!

This makes each release of the Macallan Speymalt unique. This is of course risky, because they lose the opportunity to make a good whisky by blending several barrels together. G&M have to rely quality in = quality out. Great quality spirit aged in premium barrels produces a single malt of distinction and quality, hopefully.

You may also be interested to read our review of the Macallan Speymalt 1998 that we did waaay back in 2009.

On the nose the spirit is immediately evident. The rich intensity of barley sugar and freshly baked bread. The flavours are striking, with some banana, nougat, aniseed and pink grapefruit. A second flavour wave comes through which is peppery and charred oak.

The Macallan Speymalt 2007 is a clean spirit driven whisky that has been released at peak maturing. Further ageing would disguise the exuberant youthful character that makes this whisky so delightful.