The Macallan

Everything you needed to know about The Macallan is right here.

The Macallan History

Founded in 1824, The Macallan has been through 7 owners and a stock market listing to get to where it is today.  Starting with Alexander Reid in 1824, Priest and Davidson in 1847, James Stuart in 1868, Roderick Kemp (former owner of the Talisker distillery) in 1892, Roderick Kemp Trust in 1909, The Kemp Trust becoming a private limited company in 1966, a listing on the London Stock Exchange in 1968, Suntory mopping up 25% of the business in 1986, Highland Distillers buying the remainder of the business in 1996, then finally Edrington and William Grant and Son’s buying out Highland Distillers in 1999.

History in Scotch Blends

Macallan was almost entirely a whisky for blending.  In fact, it wasn’t until the 1980’s that Macallan even bothered to market their product as a single malt, primarily because there wasn’t even a market to sell their whisky for blends.

The 16% Cut

Macallan is marketed (heavily) as having the smallest cut of any Scotch whisky.  In fact, it’s claimed that only 16% of the spirit that comes out of the still actually goes into casks, with the other 84% magically vanishing.

Cynics see this as marketing fluff.  The theory is that the 84% goes into the next charge on the still, and the real meaning of the 16% is that consumers only get 16% of VALUE from what they actually paid for.

This is further underpinned by the mass of NAS (non-age statement) whiskies cranked out by Macallan, and their range extended into many alternatives from cheaper casks, such as virgin oak and ex-bourbon, abandoning their legacy of age statement, 100% sherry cask matured whisky.

The Macallan’s New Distillery

In 2013 The Macallan announced a new distillery.  Taking inspiration from Teletubbies and Hobbits, their partially underground design was a first in many ways – most of them being memes and jokes.

The initial budget of £100 million became £140 million.  We can’t quite work out what the money was spent on.  Can you?