The Macallan - A Two-Hundred-Year Long Scottish Epic

Two hundred years of history, a milestone few can boast to have achieved. 2024 is a special year for Macallan, the iconic Scottish distillery in the heart of the Speyside, and consequently also for the history of whisky around the world.

The history of the Macallan distillery is steeped in passion, dedication and a natural ability to be ahead of its time.

The Macallan estate dates back to 1543, when the Easter Elchies lands were donated to the Grant family by the Bishop of Moray. In the eighteenth century the land was inherited by Captain John Grant who built Easter Elchies House, still depicted on the distillery’s labels today - a true symbol of whisky.

Then, in 1820 farmer and teacher Alexander Reid rented the estate and settled on it. Three years later, an event occurred which would forever change the fate of Easter Elchies House. In 1823, the Excise Act granted the first licenses for legal distillation, allowing many distilleries to work openly and ushering in a new era in whisky production.

Seizing the opportunity, Alexander Reid put his passion for the art of whisky to good use and started work on one of the first licensed distilleries.

Macallan's production began in 1824.

The property then passed to James Stuart, who invested significantly in expanding production and distribution, and the Macallan name acquired a certain renown. The distillery came to the notice of Sir Roderick Kemp, who owned shares in the Talisker distillery. Macallan seemed to him such a promising business that he decided sell his shares and buy the Speyside distillery.

Under the leadership of Roderick Kemp, nicknamed the Architect, the distillery was expanded and renamed Macallan – Glenlivet, the latter suffix being dropped in 1980.

Sir Kemp was also an excellent wine connoisseur and for this reason he introduced an innovation that would prove a key element in the Macallan style - the use of ex-Sherry barrels. To this day, because of the aromatic characteristics they confer, the vast majority of Macallan's casks are ex-Sherry made of both European and American oak.

In the early twentieth century the world was going through the darkness of two world wars, and times were very hard.

At Macallan Sir Kemp's daughter Janet Harbison, known as Nettie, was widowed at a young age and was forced to take the lead. Like her father, she laid one of the foundations for Macallan's development over the following decades introducing long ageing periods - in other words, she decided to invest in time.

It was the beginning of a philosophy that will truly be one of the distillery's distinctive features.

In 1926, Nettie personally selected a number of barrels and created Spirits of 1926 - unaware that one day one of those bottles would be sold at auction for a record $2.7 million, making it the most expensive bottle in history.

Throughout the 20^th century, Macallan continued to grow and strengthen its status as the world's finest whisky brand. In particular, in the 70s and 80s the distillery enjoyed a period of great success partly due to exports to Italy, where the brand acquired an increasingly large clientele of enthusiasts.

In 1996 Macallan joined the Highland Distillers group, later acquired by the Edrington group, with stakes in numerous spirit companies around the world.

In 2023 Macallan acquired a 50% stake in the Estevez Group, owner of Valedespino, one of the oldest Sherry producers. The goal was clear - securing a constant supply of the best ex-Sherry casks, essential for the ageing of Macallan's whiskies.

The new Macallan distillery was inaugurated in 2018, and ever since has been attracting visitors and enthusiasts from all over the world. Designed by the celebrated Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners studio, it's a true masterpiece of contemporary design conceived to combine the production facilities and the visitor area into a single structure harmonizing with the surrounding countryside. 

Construction involved the use of materials like local stone and wood as a tribute to the ingredients used in whisky production. The facility is accessed through the exhibition area showcasing the history of Macallan. The next rooms, arranged in an open-plan layout, show the different stages of whisky production. The clean lines and large windows create an idyllic atmosphere. The building is enveloped by a spectacular green roof composed of over 1800 beams, which blends harmoniously into the natural setting.

This complex, evocative project was a finalist for the prestigious Stirling Prize for architecture in 2019.

The distillery offers a range of unique experiences contributing to its fame - from classic tours exploring the production processes, expert-guided tastings and gourmet dinners specially curated to bring out the distinctive flavors of Macallan whiskey to the possibility of spending one or more nights on the Estate.

Sustainability is also a key focus. Macallan uses renewable energy sources, minimizes environmental impact and is actively committed to preserving the area's biodiversity.

As with all important occasions, Macallan's two hundredth anniversary is an opportunity to come full circle combining the importance of a glorious heritage with prospects for a bright future. That's how the TIME:SPACE COLLECTION came to be - a double release of two whiskies set to make the history of spirits.

The first is TIME:SPACE, bringing together cutting-edge engineering and traditional craftsmanship. It's a wheel composed of a double compartment, the outer one containing the oldest Single Malt Whisky ever released by Macallan combining two barrels from 1940, for an impressive 84 years of ageing. The second compartment houses a Single Malt blending the first whiskies produced in the new distillery in 2018. History and the future - two completely different worlds enclosed in a work of art. This time capsule is set in a handcrafted American and European oak sculpture with 200 spikes decorating it, creating a play of sharp edges evoking the art of origami. The release will be available in only 200 pieces, one for each year of Macallan's history.

The second bottling is TIME:SPACE MASTERY, a very complex Single Malt produced from a selection of 14 different types of barrels, including European and American oak ex-Sherry and ex-bourbon casks. The release showcases all of the organoleptic nuances of Macallan's warehouses and aims to capture the complexity given to whisky by many different barrels in terms of origin, size and content.

One of Macallan's many distinctive features is the ability to grasp the importance of art as a means of expressing its unique identity and making its products stand out. A fascinating combination that starts from the bottles but goes much further.

For a long time now, the distillery has been working in partnership with artists of global renown like Sir Peter Blake, a true icon of British pop art. Through his instantly recognizable visual language which made him famous chiefly with the cover of the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Sir Blake reinterpreted the Macallan bottle with artworks emphasizing the history and tradition of Scotch whisky, which over time have become collectibles for both shape and content.

Other prestigious collaborations include art director and designer Fabien Baron, sculptor Jaume Plensa, painter Valerio Adami and Alighiero Boetti.

Macallan has also built a close relationship with photography. An outstanding example of this is the Masters of Photography collection, an exceptional range of limited-edition whiskies combined with some of the world's greatest photographers including Rankin, Albert Watson, Annie Leibovitz, Elliott Erwitt, Mario Testino and six photographers represented by the legendary photographic agency Magnum.

Macallan whisky has carved out a prominent place in the world of cinema, where it's often associated with successful figures, moments for reflection and refined atmospheres.

It would be impossible to start this roundup without mentioning the connection between Macallan and James Bond, which shows how the brand is identified as a symbol of a certain lifestyle.

In Skyfall, released in 2012, whiskey plays a central role right from the start: while hiding in Turkey after failing a mission, James Bond agrees to drink a dram of Macallan with a scorpion perched on his hand. Additionally, the world's most famous secret agent with a license to kill also enjoys a very rare 1962 Macallan – a clear tribute to the year of release of the first 007 film. The bottle used for filming was then signed by the film's star Daniel Craig and sold at auction for charity.

The Macallan also appears in the 2015 007 film Spectre, further reinforcing its reputation for exclusivity.

In light of this, it doesn't come as a surprise that for its first two hundred years of history Macallan has returned to cinema. A short film commission by the distillery from Eliofilm and Unfollow Adv is about to be released and will premier during an exclusive celebratory event on December 4th at the La Pelota Events Space located on Via Palermo, Milan. The event, which will also present the TIME: SPACE collection series, will see the participation of Serena Corvaglia, the director of the short film and winner of the Corti d'Argento 2023 award, as well as the actors and leads including Kasia Smutniak, Mauro Uliassi, Lia Rumma and Ottavio Missoni.

The short film, which will be screened during the Critics' Week of the Venice Film Festival 2025, is about the sense of time and waiting, the need for slowness to conceive a masterpiece - a topic the world's most famous distillery is quite familiar with. Great names in Italy's history of excellence have worked alongside young talents to produce cultural content designed as a perfect synthesis of the circularity of time - past, present and future.