The Estate
Dating back to 1543, The Macallan Estate spans 485 acres of beautiful Scottish countryside overlooking the River Spey. At the heart of the estate lies Easter Elchies House – a traditional Highland manor built in 1700. The surrounding land comprises a natural ecosystem, populated with over 60,000 trees and more than 70 species of wildlife, birds and fish. We harvest estate grown barley and have our own catch and release fishing beat on the river.
Curiously Small Stills
The Macallan’s iconic, award-winning distillery was designed by acclaimed architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. Inside the distillery, the distinctive size and shape of our Curiously Small Spirit Stills gives the spirit perfect contact with the copper, which helps to concentrate our ‘new make’ spirit and create the rich, robust and fruity character that The Macallan is renowned for.
From these stills, we carefully draw the finest quality of spirit to be filled into our sherry-seasoned oak casks, which is then left to mature for decades. This commitment to craftsmanship has been evident ever since 1824.
Exceptional Oak Casks
Worthy of their name, our Exceptional Oak Casks are the single greatest contributor to the outstanding quality and distinctive aromas and flavours of The Macallan.
It takes over five years of craftsmanship to create our Exceptional Oak Casks before they are filled with our ‘new make’ spirit. Worth the wait, when you consider they account for up to 80% of The Macallan’s aromas and flavours.
The oak is dried naturally, allowing the flavour compounds in the wood to fully develop. Each cask is then crafted by hand to our exact specifications. To ensure the oak imparts exactly the right amount of flavour and colour to our whisky, The Macallan invests an unparalleled amount in sourcing, crafting, seasoning and caring for our casks – a small price to pay for the finest quality whisky.
Sherry Wine
The Macallan maintains its tradition of maturing whisky in hand-picked oak casks which are seasoned with sherry wine. The casks are filled at the finest bodegas in Jerez de la Frontera in Southern Spain, then left to season over time, allowing the sherry and wood to interact and create the perfect conditions for extraction of flavour and colour from the casks during whisky maturation. After seasoning, the casks make their journey to Speyside and The Macallan Distillery, where they are filled with our ‘new make’ spirit and the wood begins to work its magic.
Natural Colour
From light gold to the deepest mahogany, the colours of The Macallan whiskies are 100% natural.
In respect of tradition, we don’t add caramel colouring to any of our single malt whiskies. Rather, we allow the interaction of our ‘new make’ spirit and sherry-seasoned oak casks to deliver the rich diversity of colour found across our ranges. To achieve colour consistency from one bottling to the next requires great skill and patience from our Whisky Mastery Team.
Mastery
The insistence of only using the finest ingredients has been the hallmark of The Macallan ever since it was founded in 1824 by Alexander Reid. The Macallan owes its exceptional quality to our people. Their skill, craftsmanship and creativity, passed down through many generations, create the mastery of wood and spirit that defines our whisky.
Their passion and dedication embody the pure joy in every sip. Our Whisky Mastery Team sample every single cask, nosing hundreds of cask samples a day, ensuring consistent quality throughout the cask to bottle process.
