Ask the Guru about Macallan 1937

Q: From Paul M. in Hyde Park: I see Macallan 1937 whisky is on special at Makro for R90 000 a bottle. Is it a good buy?

tjor

A: It’s a little known fact that there is vintage variation in the spirit world. Which makes vintage declaration, a smart idea. This could explain why the 1950, 1952 and 1954 Macallans are all priced the same at R50 000, when you’d expect prices to increase with age. However, you’ll need to taste a specific vintage to see whether you like it and it will also be fun to ask Makro if you can taste before buying.

Donning my Sherlock Holmes deerstalker, I would say that the barley grown in 1937 used to make the beer which was then distilled into whisky was in good shape. It was a hot summer in the northern hemisphere – in fact Canada’s hottest ever recorded temperature of 45°C was recorded at Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan, on July 5.

Prohibition had ended four years before, so the supply of Bourbon barrels used to age the spirit was probably back to normal and a massive rearmament in the run up to the Second World War had stimulated the British economy and reduced unemployment, so Macallan was most likely expanding production.

Your question is a cue to local producers to state the vintage on their connoisseur brandies and whiskies – certainly the ones they enter into competitions. For how else would you know whether this particular bottle is from the batch that won the trophy or gold medal? If there was no vintage variation, why keep re-entering “the same” product into competitions?

Adding a date would create a range of most appropriate birthday presents: bottles from natal years. Cognac has been doing it for centuries.