The Macallan

Founded in 1824, The Macallan was one of the first distilleries in Scotland to be legally licensed. Since then, The Macallan has built a reputation as one of the world’s truly great single malt whiskies. From its founding by Alexander Reid, through the subsequent owners of The Macallan distillery in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and into the present century, The Macallan has been recognised for the quality of its product above all else.

The reputation of The Macallan is built on a product of outstanding quality and distinctive character, founded upon a set of guiding principles. From place to process, people and passion, the Six Pillars are the backdrop to The Macallan’s unique spirit.

• The Spiritual home of Macallan is Easter Elchies House, built in 1700 from locally quarried sandstone for Captain John Grant.
• Unusually small Spirit Stills are used, producing a distinctly rich, fruity, new make spirit.
• The Macallan carefully selects the finest quality spirit from the stills to ensure they create the best whisky. This finest cut ensures their signature mouthfeel, fruity aroma, and flavour (viscous mouthfeel) are produced.
• Exceptional oak casks – the Macallan spends more on sourcing, crafting, and seasoning its casks than any other malt whisky.
• The rich natural range of colours in the Macallan whisky range is drawn only from the wood.
• The Peerless Spirit – is one of the world greatest spirits.

The Macallan’s exceptional oak casks are sourced, crafted, toasted, and seasoned under the watchful eye of The Macallan Master of Wood. The hand-picked casks are delivered to the demanding specifications of The Macallan Whisky Mastery Team. For every expression of The Macallan, the quality of the whisky is largely dependent on the quality of the oak casks it is matured in, as well as the quality of the ‘new make’ spirit distilled from water, yeast and barley. With up to 80% of The Macallan’s final character and flavour determined by cask quality, the oak cask is the most prominent factor in ensuring and delivering the quality and style of the single malt.

The distinct size and shape of The Macallan’s Curiously Small Spirit Stills contribute a rich and fruity character to the new make spirit. The distinctive size and shape of these Curiously Small Spirit Stills gives the spirit perfect contact with the copper, helping to concentrate the ‘new make’ spirit to create the rich, robust and fruity character that The Macallan is renowned for.

From these stills, the finest quality of spirit is carefully drawn to be filled into sherry-seasoned oak casks, which is then left to mature for decades. This commitment to craftsmanship has been evident ever since 1824.

The Macallan whiskies take 100% of their colour from the wood in which they are matured. As wood is a natural product, each tree is different and in turn, imparts different flavours and colours to the whisky during maturation. The skill of the whisky makers ensures colour is as consistent as possible from bottling to bottling, through the management and selection of the casks which provide the spectrum of natural colour essential to The Macallan single malt.

The Macallan works closely with fully integrated ‘tree to finished seasoned cask’ companies in Spain; to identify the oak trees in the forests of northern Spain, fell the trees, and saw and air dry the oak staves, before shipping them to the south for further air-drying to reduce the moisture even more. The casks are then seasoned for 18 months before making the journey to Scotland where they are filled with The Macallan ‘new make’ spirit.