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Macallan's new distillery to begin production in late 2017

@Pierre
By @Pierre20th Jul 2017
2 12

The Macallan's new home is expected to fire up its stills later this year with the doors opening to visitors during the spring of 2018.

Macallan's new distillery to begin production in late 2017

First announced in 2013, the new Macallan distillery will finally begin production of spirit later this year. These days distilleries are as much visitor attractions as they are production facilities and The Macallan's new home has clearly been designed with this in mind. It is expected to open to visitors in 2018 and will boast exhibition rooms and an art gallery housed under a rolling grass-covered roof which will also shelter the still houses.

The £100m project will significantly increase Macallan's production volumes in response to the, seemingly never ending, increase in global demand for Scotch whisky. The new distillery is being built next to the old Macallan facility which will be mothballed when the new stills come to life.

The Macallan have been producing whisky since 1824 and are one of the brands at the forefront of the ultra-premium and investment market. As such they have been inspired by some the world's great wineries to create a production facility which is also a world class visitor attraction.

12 comments

@MadSingleMalt
MadSingleMalt commented

This can't be right. Hobbits knew the arts of making wine and beer, but not whisky.

6 years ago 1Who liked this?

@jeanluc
jeanluc commented

joy

6 years ago 1Who liked this?

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

Unless they will be reviving Mac CS I'm less interested.

Does this mean that they are shutting down their current facility? Does this not have the possibility of drastically changing the nature of the malt?

6 years ago 0

@paddockjudge
paddockjudge commented

@Nozinan, there is the possibilty of change in the whisky. There is also the possibility of change in the value of old distillery bottles.

6 years ago 0

@MadSingleMalt
MadSingleMalt commented

@Nozinan : "the current Macallan distillery will be mothballed once the new one is fully operational."

That's from the following article (sort of a longer version than what we have here) that kallaskander posted on the ATW blog earlier this week:

scotchwhisky.com/magazine/in-depth/…

So yeah. They're pretty much replacing the old Macallan distillery with a whole new one. That's how I read it.

6 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

@paddockjudge so the old Macallan 25 will be worth more than it is now? No one will be able to afford to open one...

6 years ago 0

@Frost
Frost commented

The stripper named line up may increase in value after all LOL

6 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

hmm... Not sure what happened to this comment...see below

6 years ago 0

@Nozinan
Nozinan commented

@Frost you make a good point. Put I would suggest it will still be the same whisky... If no one wants it now, they probably won't want to pay more at auction, so it's a risky investment.

I would rather invest in a good batch of Amrut, or a Wiser's legacy. Cheaper, and I will enjoy drinking it when it's value stagnates.

6 years ago 1Who liked this?

@Frost
Frost commented

@Nozinan a thousand souls cried out in agony smirk

6 years ago 0

@nooch
nooch commented

@Nozinan they will be mothballing the old stills completely as they have reached the end of their shelf life. When I was there for a tour in August the stillroom was actually shutdown/inexcessible because there had been some kind of problem with the stills. The new additions (stillhouse and warehousing) are just huge. In hindsight I wish I had gone to Ballindollach instead but when I made the reservation 10 months earlier the new visitor centre was on track to be finished by the time we arrived. The expectation is that the old stillhouse will be used as a museum/event location of some sort down the road.

They did say the new stills were built to the same specifications as the old in an attempt to maintain the house character. The new grounds will likely be spectacular when complete as Macallan is high up on a ridge overlooking the river Spey and the valley below. The visitor centre and path both face out to that.

6 years ago 1Who liked this?

@dramsam
dramsam commented

My wife and i took the Mac tour in Sept 2017, the new site looks like its gonna be rather good to see during our visit we thought it was overly commercialized. the tasting was nice but we felt rushed and not really given time to assess and rate the drams we sampled.the new visitor centre is going to have better facilities and bars and restaurant. hopefully it will be a better experience.

6 years ago 1Who liked this?

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