New £140m Macallan distillery unveiled
The new site is located on the stunning Easter Elchies estate, which has been home to the luxury single malt whisky since 1824.
It is the first distillery on Speyside to be designed by an internationally acclaimed architect, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, which was selected to lead the project after an international competition.
Edrington is investing £500m in the brand, of which the £140m distillery is the centrepiece. This programme increases investment in whisky, warehousing, and particularly in The Macallan’s signature sherry-seasoned oak casks.
Increased capacity
The project was announced in 2012 and the build began in December 2014. The first whisky ran through the stills in December last year and the visitor experience will open its doors to the public on 2 June.
The new distillery will enable production of The Macallan to increase by a third if required. The new stills were crafted by Scottish coppersmith Forsyths, which has been making the brand’s distinctive, ‘curiously small’ stills for The Macallan since the 1950s.
Elgin-based Robertson Construction delivered the architectural design, working with 25 contractors to bring the vision for the new distillery and visitor experience to life. During construction, up to 400 people specialising in more than 20 different trades were employed on-site.
The striking piece of contemporary architecture is cut into the slope of the land, taking its cues from ancient Scottish hills and minimising the visual impact on the Speyside landscape, which has been classified as an ‘Area of Great Landscape Value’.
The timber-roof structure is one of the most complicated of its kind in the world, comprising 380,000 individual components.
Ambitious investment
Edrington chief executive Ian Curle said: “This is an exciting occasion for Edrington and The Macallan. The unsurpassed quality of The Macallan is in high demand and we face the future confidently with this new distillery. It’s an authentic, abiding, ambitious investment that will match consumer expectations for generations to come.
"When the doors open in June, we expect this new Macallan enterprise to deliver significant benefits for the tourism industry, Scotch whisky exports, and the economy.”
The Macallan creative director Ken Grier said: “As The Macallan has grown globally, it has been very important that we make sure we can sustain demand for this wonderful amber liquid. We’ve taken exceptional care in making sure that the spirit that is produced in the new distillery is identical to the spirit that we produced in our previous distillery.
“This is the beginning of a really exciting new chapter in the evolution of this wonderful brand that is The Macallan.”
