Travel + Leisure - India & South Asia
SIX PILLARS EXPERIENCE AT THE MACALLAN
THE ONLY DISTILLERY I visit that is not a part of the trail is The Macallan Estate. With its brand-new world-class visitor centre, I find this exclusion to be a bit curious. But it fits in with The Macallan’s strategy to occupy the higher ground, to be a cut above the other whiskies. In fact, no deals are available on The Macallan whiskies at the duty-free store in the Delhi airport, unlike most of the other popular brands. In terms of sheer numbers, The Macallan sold just over 9,00,000 cases in 2016, putting it in the third place behind Glenfiddich and The Glenlivet. In terms of value, The Macallan is the clear leader. How does it justify its premium pricing? It has created a mystique around its process with its obsessive attention to detail, from sourcing custom-built sherry-infused oak casks from Spain to using the smallest stills in Speyside. These allow the spirit maximum contact with the copper, which translates into the rich, fruity, full-bodied flavours characteristic of The Macallan. The Six Pillars Experience here lets you experience a nosing and tasting of some carefully selected whiskies.
The Macallan proudly unveiled its £140 million new distillery and visitor centre in June 2018. It is a stunning piece of contemporary architecture, the likes of which Speyside had never seen. The building is cut into the slope of the land and covered with a grass and wildflower blanket so that it blends harmoniously with the rolling Scottish hills. On the other side, it resembles a giant clamshell pried open by a wall of glass that runs its length.
On entering the building, one is awestruck by the thousands of bottles displayed in glass cases that stretch from roof to floor. In a stroke of innovative genius, the designers combined the distillery with the visitor centre so that you can walk around at a mezzanine level and observe the whole operation. We are led by Michelle, a cheerful grey-haired guide with the gift of the gab but, as she readily admits, not of technology. As we wander around the 36 curiously small gleaming copper stills, it feels like something out of a Jules Verne sci-fi novel!