Luxury British Car Companies Love Whisky. These 4 Bottles Are Proof
March 19, 2024 –––––– Sean Evans
High-end British car makers adore a whisky tipple. In recent years, there’s been a surge in luxury automakers—Bentley, Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, McLaren, and Morgan—partnering with top whisky distillers to introduce special limited-run offerings. The most recent entry? The Macallan Horizon, a stunning $50,000 single malt scotch crafted in conjunction with Bentley Motors.
The Macallan Horizon with Bentley Motors
Distillery Name: The Macallan
Age: Not stated
ABV: 46.6%
Cask: Six first-fill sherry-seasoned casks from The Macallan Estate
SRP: $50,000
Bottles Available: 700
For this collaboration, The Macallan’s master whisky maker Kirsteen Campbell ventured to Crewe, England, where Bentley makes its bespoke vehicles, to get a sense of the craftsmanship behind the machines. “I wanted to bring the essence of Bentley into a whisky,” Campbell tells us. “Seeing Bentley’s process was a wonderful sensory experience; seeing the tannery hides used for the leather seats and steering wheel, the smell of the woodshop, feeling the knurling on the switchgear; it gave me a great starting point for Horizon.”
What stuck with Campbell were notes of polished wood, sumptuous leathers, and the distinct aroma of the raw wood used in Bentley veneers. (Fun fact: if you send Bentley a tree that’s felled from your estate, it will happily process it into interior paneling and install it in your vehicle.)
With these waypoints, Campbell sampled scores of casks from The Macallan Estate. “I was checking for individual flavors, then working up combinations of those,” Campbell says. “I came across casks with a lovely fresh leather note, or a rich resinous note, but it’s more complex than yanking a few of those,” she says. “There was a fair amount of digging and blending. Rarely do you get it right the first time.”
Campbell shares that the non-age statement reflects the focus on flavor instead of being constrained by a number. To achieve the right final product, Campbell went through six blends, all first-fill sherry casks, and blend number six was selected as the winner.
Bentley craftsmanship flourishes abound in the bottle and shroud. For starters, its horizontal positioning is meant to evoke a moving car. (Given the prone positioning, solving cork and closure fitment issues delayed Horizon’s launch for a year.) The aluminum portions of the bottle shroud are hewn from the same materials used in actual Bentleys. And the leather and wood in the shroud also come from Bentley suppliers. The copper you see is repurposed from stills previously used by The Macallan.
Quick Tasting Review: The Macallan Horizon with Bentley
Overall, it’s decadent and sumptuous.
We got to try Horizon during Pebble Beach’s Car Week in August of 2023, at the House of Macallan. There was a fancy meal, cooked by Thomas Keller and his French Laundry culinary wizards, and the last item on the menu was Horizon.
Horizon is a beautiful dark amber liquid. Its hue is reminiscent of Macallan 25 year old, which we were sipping on earlier that evening.
On the nose, you get sweet stewed red fruits, like cherries and plums. There’s plenty of sherry rushing out of the glass, too. A pleasant tobacco note follows, as do soft touches of oak, then baking spices, including cinnamon and cloves.
Take a sip and you’re rewarded with a rich, creamy mouthfeel. It coats nicely, bringing a punch of sherry at the beginning that blossoms. As that fades, hints of candied orange peel and buttered toffee arrive. The finish is complex, weaving you between pops of dark baking chocolate, gingersnaps, and oak spice. Horizon lingers on and on.
It’s an incredible dram. Here’s hoping owners won’t park this one on a shelf; it’s meant to be opened and consumed.
Bowmore 22 Year Old Aston Martin Master’s Selection Scotch Whisky (Edition 3)
Distillery Name: Bowmore
Age: 22 year old
ABV: 51.5%
Cask: a mixture of European Oak, Oloroso Sherry, and American Oak hogsheads
SRP: $400
Bottles Available: Undisclosed
Bowmore Distillery has been operating for more than 240 years, bringing an array of lovely Islay single malts to market. It’s renowned for sticking to tradition in a few ways, including using floor-malted barley that’s hand-turned with a wooden shovel. And it draws water from nearby Laggan River, brimming with peaty notes.
In recent years, Bowmore has launched an array of Aston Martin collaborations, including a $75,000 limited-edition Bowmore Aston Martin ARC-52. This 52 year old single malt scotch comes in a uniquely shaped vessel and was limited to only 100 bottles globally.
Bowmore and Aston Martin also have released a series of Masters’ Selections, barrels selected by Bowmore master blender Ron Welsh and Aston Martin chief creative officer Marek Reichman. Now on the third edition, this 22 year old single malt scotch is a pleasant dram. Here are our initial tasting notes and review.
Quick Tasting Review: Bowmore 22 Year Old Aston Martin Master’s Selection Scotch Whisky
On the nose, lively sherry abounds, alongside deep, rich peat. Pops of ripe banana, butterscotch, and crystalized citrus give way to whiffs of older oak, rickhouse mustiness, and soft leather.
The palate is creamy and silky, albeit a little thin. Sherry sweetness hits first, then a rush of peat before it melts into a nutty toffee, hints of cocoa, butterscotch candies, and salted caramel. The peat doesn’t crowd the party here; it’s subtle and soft, running in the background instead of overwhelming the glass.
The finish is extensive and brings notes of aged oak spice along with bright briny hits of seawater. Rated 94 points by our tasting panel, it’s an exceptional pour, one of those drams where you work to get every single drop out of the Glencairn glass.
Coachbuilt Whisky x Rolls-Royce London 30 Year Old
Distillery Name: Undisclosed
Age: 30 year old
ABV: 46%
Cask: Undisclosed
SRP: $1,900
Bottles Available: 3,000
Coachbuilt Whisky is a brand that launched in 2022 as a partnership between whiskey writer George Koutaskis and former Formula 1 world champion driver Jenson Button. “Coachbuilt” refers to how luxury cars, such as Rolls-Royce and Bentley, were created a century ago; owners would buy a chassis and motor, then contract a separate company to custom-build the cabin to opulent personal specifications.
Coachbuilt Whisky Build No. 001 is the core product, a blend of malt and grain whiskies sourced from all five scotch regions, and then finished in Spanish sherry casks. Coachbuilt x Rolls-Royce London is a blend of ultra-aged malt and grains, some up to 35 years old, the bulk of which spent time in sherry casks. Half of the 3,000 bottles are available to Rolls-Royce London clients, while the other half are available through Coachbuilt’s website.
Jack Daniel’s McLaren Edition
Distillery Name: Jack Daniels
Age: Not stated
ABV: 40%
Cask: American Oak
SRP: $45
Cases Available: 2,000
Jack Daniel’s sponsors McLaren’s Formula 1 team, and the two companies crafted limited-edition bottles designed with McLaren’s Papaya Orange hue, design language, and iconic swoop logo. Nothing’s different about the juice inside the bottle; it’s the traditional Jack Daniel’s sour mash offering, though it has found big commercial success in Australia and other global markets that embrace Formula 1.
Morgan Motors’ Balvenie Morgan
This one isn’t a bottle: it’s a bespoke four-seater Morgan motor car commissioned by William Grant & Sons, owner of Balvenie. Designed by David Stewart, malt master at Balvenie, and John Wells, head of design at Morgan, this hand-built vehicle is a combination of ash wood, aluminum, and leather. It went to auction in 2020, selling for $40,000, a chunk of the proceeds going to help out hospitality workers affected by the Covid pandemic. It came with a VIP tour of the Morgan factory, and presumably, a tipple of Balvenie, too.
It’s not the first bespoke offering from Balvenie and Morgan: in 2018, Christie’s Auction House sold a custom Morgan with a curated selection of five rare Balvenie whiskies (valued at $40,000), and a trip to Scotland to tour Balvenie Distillery.
