The Macallan is one of the biggest names in scotch whisky. Internationally renowned as the pinnacle of luxury single malt, and producer of the most expensive whisky in the world—incidentally a title they have held more than any other distillery. Mark Littler contacted The Macallan team to ask them to share six things their fans might not know about the fourth biggest distillery in Scotland.
The Macallan’s “Curiously Small Stills” Are Amongst The Smallest On Speyside
The “Curiously Small Stills” are one of Macallan’s six pillars—the six points Macallan uses as the foundation for their whisky—and their size has an important part to play in creating Macallan whisky.
“These copper stills are one of the defining features of our distillation process and play a crucial role in creating our fruity, malty spirit,” Kirsteen Campbell, Master Whisky Maker at The Macallan explained to Mark Littler over email.
“The size of these stills maximizes the contact of the spirit with the copper which is vital in creating this balance of flavors. In a previous role I held as Research Scientist at The Scotch Whisky Research Institute I spent most of my time working on projects looking at the importance of copper as the material of construction for malt stills. More specifically, the interaction between spirit vapors on the copper surface and how that impacts flavor.”
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Macallan completed work on their new distillery in 2018 to allow it to produce the highest quality whisky to an international audience. The stills used today are replicas of the original small stills, so I asked Campbell about how they went about creating the new setup. “We commissioned long-time copper specialist Forsyths to create exact replicas of the stills in the former distillery. The exact same shape, size and lyne arm orientation of our original copper stills. This ensures that the character of our new make spirit is preserved and consistent.”
The Macallan Has Collaborated With Cirque du Soleil
You may have noticed by now that this year Macallan is celebrating its 200th anniversary. As well as releasing the oldest whisky in the world, collaborations with Bentley and a new Fine and Rare release, they have also collaborated with internationally renowned performance house Cirque du Soleil.
“We wanted to share our story of The Macallan that has nature at its very core, but in a playful and creative way, and Cirque du Soleil instantly came to the forefront of our thinking,” Jaume Ferras, Creative Director at The Macallan explained over an email exchange discussing the collaboration. “We began conversations and we were both intrigued and inspired to create an immersive experience like no other. A love letter to the natural realm of the Highlands, which is a call to reconnect with our natural world, and to raise a glass to this realm in which we are all guests.
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“Our collaboration emerges from the shared belief that nature remains the ultimate sensory experience. We are two brands that are dedicated to constant innovation, whilst being inspired by a shared respect for creativity and reverence for the natural world.”
Macallan are known for their wide range of collaborations stretching back to the 1980s when they enlisted artists to design labels for the 1926. More recent examples to celebrate their 200th anniversary include a release with Bently Motors, and a music video with Emeli Sandé and David Tennant.
The Macallan Distillery Has One Of The Largest Wildflower Roofs In Europe
Back in 2018, The Macallan unveiled its brand-new distillery, which has since won numerous awards. For the design The Macallan looked to reimagine a distillery in a way that was beyond the ordinary, and which reflected their values, including safeguarding the future and their Scottish home.
The roof itself is over 200m long. It is planted with Speyside long grass as well as wildflowers, and was designed to blend into and support the Speyside ecosystem that surrounds the distillery. It was a real feat of engineering, described by its manufacturer at the time as “the most complicated engineered timber roof construction in the world.”
David Holmes designed over 250 advertisements for The Macallan
The 1960s was a boom time for the scotch whisky industry, but blended whisky was almost completely dominant at the time. Alongside Glenffidich in the 1960s, The Macallan was one of the first brands to switch to a focus on single malt. In the late 1970s they enlisted David Holmes, a prominent advertiser who was known for his work with Peter Blake (later Sir) and creating quirky and unusual campaigns that were also very successful. Holmes’ relationship with Macallan went on to span over 40 years.
“Holmes was instrumental in shaping The Macallan brand tone of voice on the global stage, communicating with an individuality and authenticity that helped to shape the core of our brand,” said Ferras, creative director of The Macallan, when I asked over email what David Holmes’ most important contribution to Macallan was.
“He put his exceptional talent to work creating engaging adverts with distinction and style throughout the 70s and 80s. These adverts included: the handmade loose-leaf brochure written on beautifully illuminated single vellum sheets and tied together with stout cloth strings, and the first ever ad for the brand which appeared in The Times on the back page next to the crossword.”
Holme’s first advert for The Macallan challenged conventions at the time by being purposefully unusual and distinct. Featuring a small black and white sketch and a note about the name “Macallan,” which is believed to derive from a saint by the name of Ma Colum.
Holmes went on to create over 250 advertisements for The Macallan and was involved in numerous other projects, including the 1926, the handwritten labels series and the ongoing Archival Folio releases. He passed away in 2018 but his legacy at The Macallan lives on in many of the series he was involved in.
The Macallan Estate Is Home To Over 60,000 Trees And More Than 70 Species Of Wildlife
The 485-acre estate has been The Macallan’s home for almost 200 years. The grand setting and distinctive Easter Ellchies house is as synonymous with the brand as the whisky itself.
The grounds warrant their own team who work in close consultation with ecologists and environmental and agricultural consultants, to help to protect the wildlife and nature that make Macallan their home. As well supporting over 60,000 trees the grounds are a wildlife haven for over 70 species of animals, birds and fish, including seven species identified as European Protected Species such as red squirrels, badgers, otters, swifts and pine martens.
The Macallan 1926 Adami sold at Sotheby’s in London for over $2.7million
The Macallan 1926 single malt is one of the world’s most sought-after bottles of Scotch whisky. The five bottles in this release have collectively held the record for most expensive whisky ten times over the last 40 years.
Distilled in 1926 when the distillery was under the stewardship of Managing Director Janet Harbinson, this is the only single bottle of whisky to have sold for more than £1 million at auction. The current record was set in November 2023 at Sotheby’s in London for $2,714,250 (£2,187,500) for the Valerio Adami edition. The previous record of $1.9 million (£1.45 million) was held by the Fine and Rare edition of the release, which took the record from the handpainted Micheal Dillon version of the 1926.
The Macallan is a powerhouse of the international whisky world, but I hope you have discovered something new about the brand, its home and history. As Macallan are celebrating their 200th anniversary with new releases throughout the whole of 2024, we are looking forward to seeing the rest of what they have planned to mark the occasion.
The original version of this article was written by me for Forbes.com
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