If you’re ever looking for a dram that makes you feel wealthy, important, and a little special at the same time, there’s only a handful of brands that are up to the job. One of which is The Macallan.

Macallan drams are synonymous with luxury, decadence, opulence, and any other fancy-sounding words you can think of to do with being posh. They’re considered by many to be the Rolls Royce of the whisky world, and often, this is reflected in the price tag.

Recently, despite being released several years ago now, I’ve noticed posts on social media starting to circulate talking about a dram released by The Macallan as part of their hugely popular M Collection (which I’ll cover in more detail in a future post). The dram in question is, dark, mysterious, peaty, and is unlike the typical drams released by The Macallan.

They’ve called it ‘M Black’ and it promises to put a decadent and complex twist on a classic. It also happens to be a cracking drop. Here are my thoughts.

The Macallan M Collection – Celebrating Their Six Pillars

Back in 2022/2023, when the world was still reeling from global conflict, political unrest, and rising energy costs (where have we heard that before?) The Macallan released a collection of opulent, truly special drams which they named their M Collection.

The collection consisted of three drams:

• The Macallan M
• The Macallan M Black
• The Macallan M Copper

Each of these exquisite single malts were released to celebrate the brand’s foundational ‘Six Pillars’ of character. These pillars, as described by the brand, are: Natural Colour, Mastery, The Estate, Curiously Small Spirit Stills, Exceptional Oak Casks, and Sherry.

These pillars serve as metaphorical representations of the craftmanship that goes into the whisky, and the brand’s commitment to putting out super high-end, premium, collectible, upmarket drams for their loyal customers.

When The Macallan M was released, it was designed to embody the natural colour of each dram thanks to the premium quality natural ingredients they use. As you might expect, you’ll find no artificial colourings here.

The Macallan M Copper is a nod to those curiously small copper pot stills I mentioned earlier. This is evident in the copper coloured Lalique crystal decanter that the delicious whisky is housed within. It serves as the ultimate celebration of those small copper pot stills that work tirelessly to craft this premium-quality spirit.

As part of the marketing and promotion for this collection, The Macallan teamed up with world-famous fashion photographer Nick Knight. Knight is a creative trailblazer and has worked with some of the biggest names in fashion, including Vogue Magazine and Alexander McQueen. Knight created a series of intricate photographs and short videos to bring these drams to life. Each collection was shot in a block of ice as an homage to the River Spey which flows directly through the Macallan Estate, along with the brand’s deep-rooted and innate connection to nature and the wild Scottish countryside. As you might expect, his work is nothing short of spectacular. It’s touches like this, which have helped to solidify The Macallan as one of the world’s premium spirits producers.

Now, I’m sure none of you will be shocked to learn that these drams cost a pretty penny, and are incredibly rare and highly collectible. You’ll not find these down at your local off licence. The drop I’m reviewing today for example, will set you back roughly £6,800 as of this writing, though for a Macallan of this calibre, that’s actually very reasonable. The rarer these become however, the higher the price will likely creep up.