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It was a
dark and stormy night…
Well, not really, but that’s how all
mysteries start, right? And in this
case, the whodunit had to do with The
Macallan. So at their invite, we at The
Whisky Life Magazine accepted The
Macallan’s offer to discover just what
makes it one of the premier whiskies in
the world, i.e. Why is it so darn good?!
Of course, no good mystery starts
without a history of times gone by.
Briefly then, overlooking the River Spey,
and with beautiful views of Ben Rinnes
Mountain, The Macallan has been legally
distilling whisky since 1824. Probably
much longer – but that’s a tale for
another time. In any event, things
progressed fairly smoothly through
various distillery owners, with The
Macallan enjoying a growing reputation,
amongst blenders, for the quality of its
product. Remember, single malts hadn’t
yet taken the “whisky world” by storm.
There also wasn’t much advertising by
individual distilleries either
(according to promotional material, The
Macallan’s total 1972 promotional budget
was £25!) Fast forward to today.
The Macallan is now not just a premier
whisky, but a premier luxury item. They
have augmented their traditional Sherry
Oak range with both the Fine Oak and
Fine & Rare ranges. And with single malt
whiskies to fit anyone’s purse strings,
The Macallan is still highly sought
after; but this time not just by
blenders, but by anyone who appreciates
quality. So back to the mystery of Why.
Wednesday, 1800 hours: We met our guide,
PR Manager Nick Pollacchi (maybe he did
it!) in front of Easter Elchies House,
on the Macallan Estate. The spiritual
home of the distillery, Easter Elchies
House, a sandstone Jacobean manor house
built in 1700 for a member of the Clan
Grant, seems to stand guard over all the
adjoining 370 acres. It is the building
that you see on the Macallan bottles,
reminding you of their provenance.
(Maybe that’s it!) Since we were too
many detectives (I mean people) to stay
at the house, we instead dropped our
bags at the adjacent, and equally,
though differently, impressive Ghillie’s
Cottage, before heading back next door
to Easter Elchies for dinner. I strongly
suggest that you find a way to get to
Easter Elchies House. From the genteel,
stately elegance of the parlors, to the
absurdity of the Music Room, it is
truly, like the whisky itself, an
experience to savor.
Wednesday, 2300 hours until Thursday
0600 hours: After a (very) long night
involving a deck of cards, various
Macallan vintages, and more laughs than
we thought possible, it was time for a
good hour of sleep before returning to
our mission.
Thursday, 0800 hours: After breakfast,
we headed out with Nick to explore the
distillery. This is a very exciting time
for The Macallan. They are in the
process of expanding operations: six
more stills, six more warehouses, and a
projected two million more liters of
whisky are “just around the corner”, as
evidenced by the unfinished steel
warehouse frameworks dotting the side of
one of the roads on the grounds -- more
evidence of The Macallan’s quality and
subsequent success. Once at the
distillery itself, we were joined by
Alec Reid, who runs the visitor center.
He showed us around, and although some
things were on the mundane side (if
you’ve seen one stainless steel mash tun,
you’ve seen ‘em all), some were quite
dramatic. Take the stills. There are
five wash stills and ten spirit stills,
which Macallan refers to as “curiously
small”. And they are. With steep arm
angles and, due to their size and shape,
increased contact between the spirit and
the copper, these direct-fired stills
may be responsible for The Macallan’s
robust, fruity character. (Aha! Maybe
they did it!) After admiring the stills,
we turned around to notice another
cornerstone of The Macallan’s success –
the spirit safe. (I sensed we were
getting closer to figuring-out what, or
who, is responsible for The Macallan’s
success.) The spirit safe is where the
stillman decides which of the distillate
coming from the stills will actually
become whisky. It is his job to select
only the finest cut, keeping the
distillate with rich and fruity
character, and rejecting the rest. The
Macallan claims that their “cut” is a
mere 16%, one of the smallest, if not
the smallest, in the industry. (A clue!)
Thursday, 1030 hours: We then went to
learn about wood. First to the
warehouses, which unlike the still
house, seemed full of activity. Due to
the variety of ranges offered by The
Macallan, there are a variety of casks
employed: traditional first and second
fill European Oak sherry casks, as well
as first and second fill American
bourbon barrels sourced from several
different distilleries. There are also a
proportion of sherry casks from white
American Oak. And boy, do they care
about their casks! Remember, although
the barley, yeast, water, terroir,
etcetera all matter, the spirit does sit
inside its cask for a mighty long time.
With a seriousness (bordering on
zealousness) that exposes a deep passion
for their wood management program, these
folks leave nothing about their casks to
chance. According to them, be they
butts, puncheons, hogsheads, or barrels,
each cask is either handcrafted or
hand-picked. The Macallan call
themselves “Masters of Wood”, and in a
way they are. (Maybe they did it!)
Everything is catalogued. By looking-up
a number on a cask, you can determine
what country, region, even what specific
plot of trees the cask came from. But
this “Wood Accountability” doesn’t stop
there. Trees are a finite resource,
especially when you’re using ones that
are 125 years old. The answer, of
course, is to plant more trees, and The
Macallan does so at a ratio that exceeds
the amount that they have to cut down,
by far. These are also catalogued, for
the future. Though not alone in
conservation, The Macallan should still
be recognized for “getting it”. (Oh, and
in case you were wondering, all 160,000
Macallan casks are maturing on site.
Now, that’s impressive!)
Thursday, 1130 hours: Off to a quick
chat and tasting with Bob Dalgarno,
Master of Spirit, aka “whisky maker”.
(Maybe him!) Though the combination of
Bob’s brogue and volume made the
conversation, um, challenging for us,
one of his take home messages was easy:
every expression of The Macallan is
bottled without artificial caramel
coloring. The natural color of the
whisky is the result of interaction
between the oak casks and the spirit
within, nothing more. As we nosed and
tasted our way through various bottlings,
enjoying the nuances of the finished
products, we once again marveled at how
so few ingredients, so properly
prepared, can create such diverse flavor
palettes. It truly is magic.
Thursday, 1330 hours: After a quick
lunch, the rest of the afternoon was
spent touring the grounds of the estate
(and yearning to go fly-fishing), and
ogling some rare bottles of The Macallan
that I’d have to sell my wife to afford
(hmmm). There is no other distillery in
the industry with such comprehensive
stocks of whisky. You can, quite
literally, obtain a bottle of whisky
from almost every year dating back to
1926. And I wouldn’t bet against the
quality of any of them! (Continuity of
perfection, maybe that’s it!)
Then, our visit was over, and unlike any
random Sherlock Holmes story, this
mystery had no obvious answer. What,
exactly, is it that makes The Macallan
one of the best single malt whiskies in
the world? The answer is as complex as
the whisky itself: the people, the
history, the stills, the fine cut, the
exceptional oak casks, the natural
color, the attention to detail. No doubt
there’s even more to the answer than
that. It is magic, after all. But if I
had to finger one culprit…
The wood did it.
Questions or comments are welcome, I can be reached at
brett@whiskyguild.com
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