Whisky marketing loves a colour chart. Plenty of the industry leans on a dash of E150a caramel to keep things looking consistent, which makes the shade in your glass more of a styling decision than a story of authenticity.
The Macallan has spent years making a point of skipping that step entirely, letting sherry-seasoned oak from Jerez de la Frontera do all the tinting. Last week, it took that argument to the dinner table.
Master of Colours, the brand’s travelling culinary programme, landed in Australia for the first time on October 29, with Melbourne kicking off the second edition ahead of stops in Singapore in late November and Bangkok in December. Last year’s run across Singapore, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City covered all six of The Macallan’s pillars.
This time round, the brief narrowed to one: Natural Colour.
The man handed that brief was Clinton McIver, whose restaurant Amaru has built its reputation on letting Australian produce speak for itself. Fitting, then, that his six-course menu was literally organised by colour, in one of the most colour-rich countries on the planet.
Green opened proceedings with a nod to the lush, rolling hills of The Macallan Estate: an ensemble of crystal snow crab, rock oysters, shiso and sorrel. Blue hinted at the icy hues of the River Spey, which borders the distillery, by way of cod with Midnight Pearl potatoes and scampi caviar.
Red was Western Australian marron with XO sauce and blood lime, a clear link to the natural colour The Macallan draws from its sherry-seasoned oak casks. For the main event, Brown delivered kangaroo with native spiced mole and burned apple.
Copper, the penultimate course, reflected the famously small copper stills at The Macallan. The dessert of heirloom melon, apricot and honey fudge had the Sherry Oak 18 Years Old worked into the dish itself. White closed things out with muntrie, galangal and brown butter, a tribute to the bone-white, clay-like soil of the Valdespino sherry bodega in Jerez, the cradle of The Macallan. It’s a detail few people know, and it brought the menu full circle to where every Macallan story begins.
The glassware was doing equally serious work. Brand ambassador Max Borrowman steered 24 guests, including Julia Ostro and Toni Maticevski, through Sherry Oak 18, 25 and 30 Years Old, plus the Double Cask 30. If you’re keeping score, that’s a lunch where the 18 was the junior pour.
The good news for those of us who didn’t make the guest list: a selection of dishes from the Master of Colours menu will stay on at Amaru for a limited time.
Book accordingly, and maybe skip breakfast.
This article was presented in partnership with The Macallan. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Boss Hunting.