The Macallan Distillery

The Macallan’s story

The Macallan is one of the largest and most famous single malt distilleries in Scotland and has a capacity of 15 million litres a year – this puts it behind only Glenfiddich and The Glenlivet. The current distillery was commissioned in 2017 and boasts 36 stills (12x wash and 24x spirit). While this is a large amount, each one is small. This produces the richer, creamier spirit that The Macallan has become renowned for.

The Macallan uses two types of yeast during fermentation, compared to just one that most other distilleries use. This is done in order to maximise the amount of sugar that gets turned into alcohol and can give further creaminess to the final spirit. Another difference is in the maturation. Much of the whisky goes into European oak casks or ex-sherry barrels – these have either had sherry fully matured in them or been seasoned with sherry for a shorter period at bodegas in Jerez, Spain. This is what The Macallan is known for.

Macallan is currently the third best-selling Scotch single malt in the UK and the third best-selling in the world – only Glenfiddich and The Glenlivet outsell it. A conscious decision was also made in the mid-2000s to target the travel retail market by releasing exclusive bottlings and editions of their whisky for that sector. This pioneering move has paid off as many brands have followed this strategy and The Macallan lies in second place for worldwide travel retail sales, behind only Glenfiddich.

The Macallan has also transcended modern popular culture and regularly features in TV, books, articles and movies. The most famous example of this is during the Daniel Craig era of James Bond – this saw 007 regularly sip on The Macallan in each of the five movies. It also features the iconic scene where Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem, shoots a glass of The Macallan 1962 from the head of Severine, played by Berenice Marlohe. This whisky was used in reference to the 50th annversary of the first Bond movie, Dr. No released in 1962, and made Bond exclaim that the action was “a waste of good Scotch”.

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The Macallan’s history

The Macallan was founded in 1824 by Alexander Reid with the distillery operated from the original buildings of Macallan farm. It was named as Elchies distillery after the estate upon which it was located. Only then did it change to Macallan. The distillery changed ownership several times during its early days with no less than four different people or companies running production during its first 65 years. Some much needed stability came when Roderick Kemp took control in 1892. He had previously been the co –owner of Talisker on the island of Skye. He immediately set about expanding the distillery and renamed it as Macallan-Glenlivet.

The Macallan remained in the control of his family until 1996, when it was sold to a consortium of Japanese company Suntory and the Highland Distillers Group. When Kemp died in 1909 it was discovered that he had set up the Roderick Kemp Trust to secure the distillery and operational funds for this family. In 1999, the distillery became part of the Edrington Group, who are the current owners.

The path of The Macallan’s history changed forever in 1980. The name was changed, dropping the Glenlivet part, and the decision taken to concentrate on producing premium quality single malt whisky rather than whisky for blending. Many in the whisky trade thought this was risk at the time but the decision has proved to be a great success. The first official bottling labelled as The Macallan only appeared as recently as 1984.

The original distillery buildings were used until the turn of the 21st century. The distillery underwent a major expansion and renovation in the early-2000s and reopened in 2001 with a capacity of 6 million litres – this was the version we visited in 2009 (see Distillery Visits section below). However, sales grew rapidly so its lifespan was shortlived and the decision taken to build an entirely new facility. The old distillery now sits mothballed and unused.

The current distillery was the culmination of a six year project, two years of planning and four of construction. It was designed by renowned architects Roger Harvester & Co. at a reported cost of £140 million. The distillery is 207 metres long and 67 metres wide. Two thirds is below ground after 1.5 million tonnes of earth were excavated – some of this was moved to the roof, but most created a new hill that hides a large new warehouse complex from view. It is 27 metres tall at its highest point with a spectacular wooden framed load-bearing roof structure. We visited this in 2019 – again see the Distillery Visits section below to read about this.

• How to pronounce Macallan? mack-al-un
• Country: Scotland
• Region: Speyside
• Founded: 1824
• Current owners: The Edrington Group
• Production capacity per year: 15 million litres
• Mash tun: 17 ton
• Washbacks: 21
• Stills: 36
• Visitor centre: Yes

The Macallan Distillery
Easter Elchies, Craigellachie
Banffshire
AB38 9RX
tel – +44(0)1340 871 471
www.themacallan.com

Did you know?

One warehouse at The Macallan was the largest bonded warehouse in Europe at the time of its construction in the late-1980s, with a capacity of over 80,000 casks. They have some of the oldest whiskies in existence stored there, including some from the late-19th and early 20th centuries.