Fine and Rare 1980s Global EN

In the 1980s, so much seemed possible. In a decade that was to see the invention of the world wide web, information darted around the globe with ever increasing speed. Tim Berners Lee’s gift to the planet unleashed innumerable flights of fancy.

The Macallan had built up a presence in 25 countries. For the United Kingdom, a first advertisement for the bottled whisky was placed modestly next to the Times crossword. Signed off as ‘The Macallan. The Malt’, the statement was welcomed as fact, not claim, by a growing band of loyal enthusiasts. These included the Bank of Scotland, which, the following decade would print an etching of a Macallan stillhouse on the back of the Scottish ten-pound note.

Photography by Tim Walker, inspired by The Macallan Estate.

Easter Elchies House was officially re-opened in 1983 by Princess Margaret and woven back into the daily workings of the distillery. Nature continued its magical work while other, man-made icons of the time approached their closing chapters.

Cassette tapes spooled towards early retirement. The Berlin Wall fell. By contrast, the Fine & Rare bottling from that same year of 1989 remains impressively upstanding.