Edition No. 3, released in 2017, extended the series into the realm of olfaction: the bottling was developed with master perfumer Roja Dove, whose Haute Parfumerie in Mayfair has long made him one of the most revered noses in the fragrance world. The collaboration with Macallan Whisky Maker Sarah Burgess focused not on flavour first but on aroma — how a whisky unfolds on the nose and how individual cask characters could be layered the way a perfumer composes an accord, balancing top, heart and base notes across the glass.
The result, bottled at 48.3% and non-chill-filtered, is the lightest and most aromatic of the early Edition series. Pouring pale gold, it opens on the nose with vanilla cream, candied citrus, and a distinct rose-petal floral note that is unusual in the Macallan idiom. Soft oak and a whisper of fresh ginger complete the aromatic picture.
The palate is similarly delicate: orange zest, light toffee, almond paste, and apricot, all held together by a thread of floral sweetness. There is none of the dried-fruit density one associates with the more heavily sherried Macallans; instead, the whisky feels almost weightless, as though it were designed to be inhaled as much as drunk.
The finish is medium-long and clean, with vanilla, citrus oils, and a final breath of oak spice. Edition No. 3 remains, for my money, the most unusual of the series — a whisky that rewards those who take the time to nose it at length before ever raising the glass. Roja Dove's fingerprints are unmistakably on the composition, and the whisky stands as proof that aroma can be choreographed with as much intent as flavour itself.
