Anecdotes of Ages Collection
Family Life and Work
In 1918, at the end of the First World War, Janet Harbinson became managing partner at The Macallan.
A Formidable Businesswoman..
One of the 13 original bottles, each unique label shares stories relating to our history, community, and natural landscape of The Macallan Estate.
Janet Harbinson was a great gift to The Macallan. Her husband, Alexander, had died before the fighting of the First World War ceased; the future rested on her shoulders. She was to run the company for the next twenty years, but she was already exerting a positive influence, supporting and protecting the wives and widows of those workers who had left for battle.
Her instincts proved unfailingly prescient. In the turbulent 1920s, with crop failures, American Prohibition and a public in large part turning away from whisky, she resolved to let the business tick over quietly.

The Story Behind the Label
The building is often described as ‘couthy, not grand’, a Scottish encapsulation of familiar and unstuffy qualities that could be applied equally to Janet Harbinson herself.







Correspondence written in her steady, elegant hand relays the stories of both her work in those challenging years.

Under the close guard of a chocolate Cocker Spaniel reminiscent of one owned by Janet Harbinson, the whisky in the bottle that Sir Peter has labelled, selected by Maker Sarah Burgess and in Mary McCartney’s photograph, is the product of a craft and care. One day, the rich flavour notes of fig, mango, sweet oak and hazelnut within this single malt will be savoured by a deeply fortunate individual, appreciative of all that is precious, just as Janet was.
The Experience
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Colour
Caramelised peach
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Nose
Classic antique oak, dried fruit and fig combined with hints of pineapple and mango layered with a decadent chocolate strawberry note
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Palate
Warm chocolate with light nutmeg and ginger, oak spices and sweet oak opening into pineapple and coconut with an unexpected strawberry and hazelnut burst
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Finish
Complex with a medium to long finish of chocolate, sweet oak and lightly spiced peach
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ABV
46.7%




