The Macallan Brings Together Three Artists To Mark 100 Years Of Its Most Legendary Whisky

In a recent announcement, The Macallan has lifted the veil from its new Romantica Collection, a single cask release from a 1986 vintage, timed to the centenary of The Macallan 1926, which is widely regarded as the most valuable bottle of wine or spirit ever sold at auction. With its release of its new collection, the Speyside distillery has brought back three artists who once lent their work to that legendary 1926 release, namely Sir Peter Blake, Valerio Adami and Michael Dillion, each returning with a fresh piece created specifically for Romantica.

A Cask With A Long Memory 

The story of Macallan 1926 is a familial one and involves brand custodian Janet "Nettie" Harbinson, who first laid it down a hundred years ago and bottled it six decades later, at what was then judged the peak of its maturity. The bottling was done by her great-nephew Allan Shiach. That particular cask yielded only 40 bottles of the now-legendary 1926. 

As that chapter came to an end in 1986, a fresh one opened up quietly. Number 9925, a single sherry-seasoned European cask, was filled and set down in a corner of a warehouse on The Macallan Estate. Four decades on, in 2026, the cask has come to be crowned as the Romantica Collection.

Three Artists, One Shared Theme

For the new release, artists Blake, Adami and Dillon were requested to reflect on the years cask 9925 spent quietly maturing, from 1986 to 2026. The request was to result in a response based on the themes of time, travel, nature and community, each in their own distinctive style. 

Sir Peter Blake, the British pop artist who was the brains behind the iconic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover, has come up with a collage titled The Music Room. What it does is place the viewers at Easter Elchies House, the historic home that appears on every Macallan bottle, in 1986, at the opening of the Octagon Room, a music room inside the house that has come to symbolise community at The Macallan.

Valerio Adami, the Italian painter famous for narrative figuration built from bold outlines and flat colour, in his turn, has painted Romantica (1986). The work illustrates Janet "Nettie" Harbinson, custodian of The Macallan when the 1926 was distilled, standing in an attractive red dress against a Scottish landscape, creating a connection between past and present through a reworking of the original 1926 bottle. 

Michael Dillon, on the other hand, a mural artist and decorative painter, has produced The Macallan Estate, a landscape capturing Speyside's countryside with the distillery's modern building tucked beneath its green roof, a nod to the fragility and beauty of the natural world.

Every bottle label across the collection is signed by hand by the artist responsible for it. In total, only 258 bottles exist, split evenly into three editions of 86 bottles each. The name Romantica refers to an artistic style built around imagination, emotion and introspection, often turning towards nature and freedom of spirit — a sentiment the brand felt ran through all three works, along with the sense of community and regard for nature they share. 

Character In The Glass

Presented in its pristine colour and bottled at 48.6 per cent ABV, the whisky opens with apricot conserve, canned peaches and bittersweet toffee on the nose, commingled with crystallised ginger, gentle cinnamon, antique oak and a trace of fragrant woodsmoke. On the palate, a velvety sweetness of brown sugar, glazed peach and tropical lychee gives way to dark cherries, treacle and a subtle hint of peat, before a long finish of dried fruit, leather and rich cacao. 

Each bottle sits in a bespoke presentation box made from European oak, decorated with the relevant artist's work. Inside, buyers will find a numbered certificate signed by Master Whisky Maker Kirsteen Campbell, a removable collection booklet, and a limited-edition giclée print unique to each artist edition. 

The Macallan Romantica Collection will be sold only as a complete set of all three editions, available directly from The Macallan from July 30, 2026.