Spirited Duet
The Macallan pairs its new Double Cask 12 Years Old whisky with limited edition guitars created by Philippe Dubreuille
Whisky and music are two of life’s great pleasures. A bottle of fine single malt Scotch and a finely crafted musical instrument have a lot in common; both are things of beauty and precision that bring lasting joy to the owner and others. Now The Macallan has taken that connection to another level, creating a series of limited edition custom guitars in partnership with master guitar maker Philippe Dubreuille to mark its latest release, The Macallan Double Cask 12 Years Old.
The guitars are handmade using sherryseasoned casks of American and European oak, the same woods used to mature the whisky, and indeed the whisky’s most important ingredient, contributing up to 80 per cent of its flavour profile. The instruments come with reclaimed cask wood embedded within their necks; the famed Six Pillars of The Macallan as inlayed fret markings; the Double Cask 12 on the 12th fret and headstock; and even a measure of Double Cask whisky embedded in their bodies.
Such painstaking craftsmanship and attention to detail come naturally to London-based Dubreuille. A self-taught guitar maker with 25 years of experience, he only started making the instruments as an experiment when he lost his own, discovering a talent for it. The Frenchman got his big break when he broke into the backstage area of a gig by legendary rock band The Cure and sold a guitar to frontman Robert Smith. Dubreuille has since worked with the likes of Mark Ronson, Iggy Pop, Noel Gallagher, Aerosmith and Gorillaz. This is the first time, though, that he’s made a guitar using oak.
“The choice of wood is incredibly important for guitar creation as, much like with whisky, it creates a unique personality for the instrument,” he says. “This is something that I wanted to bring to life with my design. As soon as I heard about the project, it sparked my imagination; nothing goes together quite like good music and great whisky.” There are five guitars in total, one of which was the star of the show at a special event—the Macallan Jazz x Double Cask Guitar Appreciation—that was held at W Hong Kong hotel on September 1st, before it was featured at an exhibition in Taipei. One of the guitars is available for sale at the shop in the home of The Macallan, Easter Elchies House, in the legendary Speyside whisky-producing region of northeastern Scotland. It costs £10,000 and comes with a bottle of The Macallan Double Cask 12 Years Old. The latest release from The Macallan is a bold yet approachable single malt, featuring a nose of creamy butterscotch, toffee apple, orange and vanilla custard followed by a honeyed palate full of woody spices, citrus, raisins and caramel.