The cooper plays an integral role in the journey of The Macallan’s exceptional oak casks. Coopers are highly skilled craftspeople who make and repair oak casks destined to hold our new make spirit. This is a traditional process that has carried through the generations. The Macallan partners with cooperages in Jerez, Spain, where they build and  toast casks to our exacting specifications (oak type, cask size and toasting times and temperatures). These casks are then filled with an Oloroso style sherry and seasoned for around 18 months before making the journey north to our home in Speyside, Scotland.

The name cooper derives from the Low Middle Germanic term 'coupere' that simply means 'barrel'. Coopers work in cooperages. where they undertake a highly skilled process to create our casks. The first stage is known as the ‘standing’ or ‘ raising’ of the cask’. This is where wooden ‘staves’ that have been cut and dried are constructed into a cask shape using metal hoops. The coopers use the heat of fires to make this shape. This is crucial to reviving the dried wood and creating the optimum environment for developing spirits. The coopers take partially formed casks and steam or moisten them with water before standing them over fires.