Alexander Reid, a teacher and farmer, founded The Macallan on the Easter Elchies estate near Craigellachie in 1824.1,2,3 Its short, squat stills are some of the smallest in Scotch whisky, and they help make a dense, full-bodied spirit.4,5 Roderick Kemp bought it in 1892, his descendants kept a stake until Highland Distillers took over in 1996, and Edrington has owned it since 1999.3,5,6 In 2018 a new £140m distillery opened next to the original one.5,7,8
Outstanding review score, 93 out of 100Outstanding93/100
A breathtaking nose of exotic and dried dark fruits, honey, medicinal herbs, dried mushrooms and old liqueurs, with a palate rich in rancio and earthy fruit.
coal smoke
dark fruit
earthiness
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By Angus MacRaild
Producing, 1824–1943
Silent, 1943–today
Name
Elchies Distillery, 1824–1892
Macallan, 1892–today
182419001950Today
A licence at Easter Elchies
In 1820 Alexander Reid began renting Easter Elchies House, a manor enlarged in 1700, and its farm; one history says he worked the land from 1819.9,10,11 He took out his licence at Elchies under the 1823 Excise Act, a law meant to curb illegal distilling, and began as a farm distillery.1,2,3 Reid died in 1847, and James Shearer Priest and James Davidson took over, though one history says his son Alexander led the firm until 1858.5,9,12 In 1868 James Stuart took the lease and rebuilt the plant, and he bought it outright in 1886.5,12
Sources disagree: the date. This page uses 1820.
1820: The Macallan, Aberdeenshire Council Historic Environment Record9,10
Sources disagree: when James Shearer Priest and James Davidson took over. This page uses 1847.
1847: ScotchWhisky.com (Whiskypedia), The Macallan5,9
1848: International Directory of Company Histories (FundingUniverse)12
The Kemp family
In 1892 Roderick Kemp, who had owned Talisker, bought and rebuilt the distillery and renamed it Macallan.2,3,6 He set the rule of ageing its whisky only in unbroken Spanish oak sherry casks.2,3,5 When Kemp died in 1909, a trust was set up to protect his family's stake in the business.5,13
Through two world wars
During the First World War, Dr Alexander Harbinson ran the business for the Kemp Trust.13,14 By 1916 many workers had joined the forces, but the trust kept working, though its output was smaller.13,14 Alexander died in 1918, and his widow, Janet 'Nettie' Harbinson, became the first woman to be managing partner.11,14,15 She ran the distillery until 1938, and through the hard 1920s she let the business tick over quietly.11,14,15 From 1939 the Second World War limited making and selling whisky.16 The Kemp Trust kept its mature stock rather than sell it, and took no outside money.
More stills, not bigger ones
The plant began as a wooden shed with two stills, and by 1954 it had five.5 In 1965 the stills doubled from six to 12, and Whiskypedia says a new stillhouse was built for them.2,5,12 Rather than build larger stills, the company added more of the same small size.2,5,12 Another stillhouse was built, raising the count to 18 in 1974 and 21 in 1975, and Canmore counts two stillhouses in all.2,5,6 A 1980 photo record shows the stills in the newer stillhouse were then gas fired.6
Sources disagree: the date. This page uses 1974.
Next: More stills, not bigger ones, From blending to single malt, New owners, A new distillery, How it makes its spirit
Macallan was long known mainly as a blending whisky, and as much as 93% of its spirit went to blenders, who used it for a top note.5,12,18 The Macallan dates its turn to selling a single malt to 1966, while histories give the 1970s, 1980, or the early 1980s.5,12,18 The same year the Kemp Trust became a private limited company.5 In 1968 the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange to pay for more stock and growth.5,12 In 1970 the firm R Kemp Macallan-Glenlivet changed its name to Macallan-Glenlivet.5,12 Willie Phillips was managing director from 1978 until the 1996 takeover.19 Allan Shiach, a great-nephew of Nettie Harbinson, was chairman from 1979 to 1996.15,18 The distillery finished restoring Easter Elchies House as offices in 1985, though one history dates its opening to 1977.10,12,20
1979–1985: Aberdeenshire Council Historic Environment Record10
1977: International Directory of Company Histories (FundingUniverse)12
New owners
Suntory bought a 25% stake in the business in 1986.5 In 1990 Highland Distillers passed a 26% stake to Rémy Cointreau in a share swap, and bought it back in January 1996.12 With the Kemp family down to about 20%, Highland Distillers and Suntory pooled their stakes in HS Distillers, which took control and bought the rest.5,7,12 In 1999 Edrington and William Grant & Sons bought Highland Distillers, and Macallan became part of Edrington.5,7,21
A new distillery
In 2008 a £20m investment brought the second stillhouse, which had been out of use, back into use.5,22 In December 2014 building began on a new distillery designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.1,4,8 Forsyths made its stills in the same shape and size as the old ones.1,4,8 The original distillery stopped in October 2017 and was mothballed, which means it was kept intact but not used.8 The new distillery, built partly underground, was commissioned on 9 November 2017.5,22 It opened officially in May 2018 at a cost of £140m, with 36 copper stills, though Whisky Advocate counted 14.5,7,8
How it makes its spirit
Two outside maltsters malt its barley, which mixes grain grown on the estate with bought-in grain.23 The Macallan says it is primarily not known for using peated malt, meaning barley dried in kilns fired with peat.23 The distillery has 12 wash stills for the first distillation and 24 spirit stills for the second.4,5,7 Today the stills are heated by steam, and shell and tube condensers cool the vapour.5 Fermentation runs for at least 48 hours in 21 stainless steel washbacks, the tanks where fermentation takes place.5,8 It can make 15 million litres of alcohol a year.5,24 The Macallan says it uses spring water, while other sources name boreholes on the estate or the River Spey.1,5,7
