Bespoke decanters and boxes for Savoy Hotel

Working in collaboration with The Savoy Hotel, London, Speciality Drinks has created and designed 15 bespoke decanters and boxes holding an extremely rare 48-year-old single cask Macallan whisky to mark the 125th anniversary of the opening of The Savoy in 1889.

Launched in April this year, the single malt was discovered by the whisky experts at Speciality Drinks, who came across an exceptional parcel of Macallan whisky in cask, aged for over 48 years in a sherry butt.

Inspired by The Savoy’s acclaimed art deco architecture and interiors, Speciality Drinks designed the decanters and oversaw the creative direction of the craftsmanship from affiliated partners. Each decanter is hand blown and an individual work of art. The glass was produced by Brodie Nairn of Glasstorm Studio in Tain, Scotland, one of the most celebrated glass studios in the world. Each decanter has a hand-engraved collar created by Hamilton & Inches of Edinburgh, silversmiths and clock specialists to the Queen and Royal Warrant holders since 1955. Each collar was created from a single sheet of silver individually spun on a lathe.

The box for each decanter was also designed by Speciality Drinks and produced by Neil Stevenson, specialist cabinetmaker and holder of a Royal Warrant since 2003, who has been creating cabinets and furniture for the Royal family since 1992. Each box is handmade and polished, and includes a piece of the original Savoy American Bar.

With only three released each year, The Savoy Collection: 48 year old Macallan, decanter and box’s value is priced from £18,500.

The Savoy Collection

Together The Savoy and Speciality Drinks have also created The Savoy Collection. Many decades ago, The Savoy created a range of spirits, bottled exclusively for the hotel, to be enjoyed by the most loyal guests and discerned imbibers of the time. Having revived this tradition and teaming up with Speciality Drinks many of the bottles in The Savoy Collection boast a history as colourful as that of the hotel, but all of them are stars of the future. The Savoy Collection so far includes a 21-year-old Macallan, The Manhattan Cocktail, a 17-year-old Laphroaig, Demerara Rum from Guyana 1975 and The Royal Suite Reserve Cognac.

Speciality Drinks is the brainchild of Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh, two brothers with a passion for fine spirits and over fifty years of experience in the drinks business between them. The Whisky Exchange was set up in 1999 as one of the first online whisky websites and expanded into fine spirits a few years later. In 2005, The Whisky Exchange shop was opened in Vinopolis, in the heart of London’s Borough Market, and 2006 the on-trade division was formed. www.specialitydrinks.com.

27 July 2015 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor