Shakespearean tragedy inspires whisky collection

The second act in a collection of whiskies inspired by William Shakespeare’s Macbeth has been unveiled, featuring eight limited edition single malts.

Following the launch of Macbeth Act I in 2023, independent whisky company Livingstone has created Macbeth Act II, with bottles once again featuring character drawings by illustrator Sir Quentin Blake.

The Macbeth Collection will ultimately feature five acts, representing 42 characters from Shakespeare’s famous Scottish play.

Livingstone founder Lexi Burgess commented: “This project can only ever be done once, so we had to get it right. When we released Act I, I remember saying it was testament to the play. Two years on, The Macbeth Collection is becoming its own entity, and having tasted and talked about the whiskies from France and Germany to Japan and Singapore, everyone has appreciated the sincerity of our ambition to present the incredible breadth and depth of Scotch through this lens.”

As with Act I, the collection features a bottling that represents ‘The Leads’ – a main ‘regal’ character from the play. In the second act, Lord Macduff’s character has been lent to 100 bottles of a 45-year-old Bunnahabhain single malt Scotch whisky.

The whisky is described as maritime in style, but with none of the typical Islay peat smoke. Instead, it offers an ‘abundance’ of orchard notes and barley sugar.

It is said that ‘only a whisky of the utmost complexity could encapsulate all of Macduff’s character, experienced so viscerally through his unerring commitment to protect the kingdom and love of the family he cherished and lost’.

While the natural cask strength is 40.8% ABV, Lord Macduff ‘retains its power as an elegant and superbly balanced whisky’, with notes of blackberries and red fruits, baked apples, toffee and tarragon.

That bottle sits alongside ‘The Thanes’ – noble characters of the court who are considered ‘worthy’ of appearing alongside ‘The Leads’. A 27-year-old single malt from Glentauchers Distillery represents the character of Lennox, while Ross is represented by a 28-year-old Scotch distilled at Ben Nevis Distillery. Finally, Young Siward is a Highland Park Distillery whisky, aged for 18 years to represent the character’s ‘barely old enough’ youth in the play.

‘The Witches’ are also present within the second act, with The Second Witch represented by a whisky distilled on Islay, aged for 26 years in both Bourbon and Sherry casks. It has been described as ‘oddly joyful’ and boasts notes of charcoal smoke entwined with rich vanilla and ‘brooding’ dried fruits.

With Act II comes the Second Murderer of four that compose ‘The Murderers’ whiskies, all of which are unnamed, heavily peated island single malt Scotch whiskies – manifestations of the nameless assassins brought in from beyond the castle walls to kill on Macbeth’s command. For this specific bottling, the whisky was distilled on Jura and aged for 17 years. It is described as having a tannic quality in the background, while seed cake and ginger spice create a dark undercurrent, and the peat smoke is linear and cutting.

Finally ‘The Household’ is represented in this act by two ‘characterful’ whiskies, and the youngest of the eight expressions. The 14-year-old Servant was distilled at Clynelish Distillery, and has been drawn by Blake as a terror-stricken, torch-bearing messenger, while Soldier is a single malt distilled at Speyside’s Benrinnes Distillery and aged for 12 years.

Unlike in the first act, The Ghosts are not represented this time. When present, these epitomise vanishing stocks from six ghost distilleries.

Sukhinder Singh of Elixir Distillers, the bottler behind the collection, said the project is “the perfect combination of concept, outstanding Scotch whiskies, and beautiful presentation. I am particularly enjoying how rigorous we are in ensuring the collection is character-led; it has brought an interesting dimension to selecting the whiskies and a new experience at tastings.”

The collection is brought to life by Blake’s illustrations on the bottles and the character notes written by writer and author Dave Broom.

Blake said: “The idea of drawing the characters of Macbeth as birds appealed to me immediately. I’ve always thought of illustration as a kind of acting. I don’t observe the gestures so much as feel them.”

The Macbeth Collection Act II will be available from 13 March, from leading whisky retailers in the UK, across Europe and around the world, including China, Japan, Taiwan and Canada.

The whiskies in this act range in price from £84.95 (US$107) to £2,000 (US$2,522).