From mighty oaks: The Macallan promo, GQ, 2011
Since 1824, the Easter Elchies Estate on the Spey has been home to The Macallan, a whisky distillery whose reputation has been built on unique processes and very special characters
[In my four years as chief copywriter at GQ, I only ever went on one away trip from London and that was to The Macallan distillery on the Spey between Inverness and Aberdeen. The rest was all phone work or London-based. While in Scotland, I got talking to Willie the Ghillie, who looked after the fishing on the estate. I asked about his job and Willie started talking about the guests who’d fish the Spey but then all of a sudden they’d disappear. “I suppose people pop their clogs,” I reasoned. “Aye,” he said. “I suppose so… So what’s your name, son?” I told him, “Lee Gale.” “Gale?” Willie said and rubbed his chin. “Not from Yorkshire, then?” I nodded, “Family’s from South Yorkshire.” Willie put his kit down: “Do you know Roy Gale?” “Yes that’s my uncle, from Doncaster – died recently.” “Ah,” said Willie. “That explains it. What about Ken?” I nodded: ‘Another uncle, died a little while ago… You know them?” Willie nodded. “What a pair they were…” I was then regaled with half an hour of Uncle Roy and Uncle Ken’s very Yorkshire tomfoolery while fishing on this stretch of the river. A small world. Other than that, sampling whisky at 10am was a new first for me…]
George Espie
Master of wood
When it comes to The Macallan, the secret’s in the wood, and George Espie, managing director of the Clyde Cooperage and The Macallan’s “master of wood”, is a hugely influential figure in the whisky world. George is guardian of The Macallan Wood Policy, steering the flavour of whisky through the oak casks he purchases.
“The wood for The Macallan is very special,” George enthuses. “We use four casks. European oak that has been sherry seasoned; American oak that has been sherry seasoned; American oak that has been seasoned with bourbon; and casks that have previously held The Macallan. The variations of The Macallan derive from this wood.”
The Macallan has a special relationship with the sherry bodega Gonzalez Byass in Andalusia. George travels to Spain five times a year. “We source the casks directly, and at any one time we have 50,000 butts being seasoned,” he adds. “There’s no specific place for learning what I do. It’s just gaining experience. And Spanish would help.”
Bob Dalgarno
Whisky maker
“Have a try of this,” Bob Dalgarno prompts in the laboratory. The Macallan’s whisky maker fills a syringe with 50-year-old single malt whisky and squirts it into a glass. But isn’t this really expensive? “That’s not my concern,” he shrugs. “I’m here to make the best whisky I can – I don’t deal with the money side.” An army of labelled, whisky-filled medicine bottles lines his desk and shelves. What happens if you knock the bottles on the floor? “We pick them up,” he replies.
Bob is a common-sense merchant of empirical stature, which is just as well as, from the sample room, he’s responsible for engineering the entire Macallan whisky range. Bob has developed a quality-based assessment model to understand the range of casks maturing on site, while building up a record of colour and character. “The finished product is my responsibility,” he says. “For us it’s mostly about European oak, very dark in colour, spicy, Christmas cake-type – a big whisky. But you want to show the consumer that you can do something else, so fine oak was taken on board. Citrus and vanilla, new-oak character. It’s a whisky for a different time of day. A good aperitif.”
Alexander Tweedie
Distillery manager
“My role is to produce quality spirit as efficiently as possible,” distillery manager Alexander Tweedie affirms. “What I mean by efficiently is to get the most alcohol out of a tonne of malt, but to do it safely and at the correct cost.”
Whisky production is in Alexander’s blood – his father worked at a distillery and the family lived in a distillery house, on-site. Alexander started out as a labourer in 1977. “I began at the bottom and worked my way through,” he reveals.
A short walk from Alexander’s office is the room that houses the distillery’s “curiously smalls stills”. Crafted in copper, The Macallan’s stills are the smallest on Speyside, helping concentrate the new spirit and give a fruity, full-bodied flavour.
The process has changed radically since Alexander began his role seven years ago, with output up by a third and his whisky more consistent than ever. “It’s still very much a family business,” Alexander adds. “You keep the company’s history in mind. I mean, since 1824, this site has been here, producing whisky. That’s very important to us.”
Willie Bremner
The ghillie
The Spey is one of Britain’s fastest-moving rivers, dropping eight feet every mile. Here, salmon fishing is among the finest in the world. Rather like watching shooting stars during a meteor storm, salmon leap out of the water every 30 seconds.
The Macallan estate is skirted by the Spey, and Willie the Ghillie manages the bank on The Macallan side. “What does ghillie mean? Some people, tongue-in-cheek, call it an ‘outdoor domestic’,” he smiles. “I prefer ‘gentleman’s gentleman’. The beat is a mile-and-a-half long. We’ve got four fishers every day and my job is to look after their safety, to see they don’t get into difficulty.”
A cooper by trade, Willie has ghillied on and off for 50 years. He keeps a careful record of fish caught, their weight, and the river’s height. The biggest catch this year? Eighteen pounds. “If I get the fishing bug, I’d have the beat fished before these boys are out of their beds.”
Just then, a glittering silver salmon jumps to the rear of an angler before slapping the river surface. “That’s what I call a pantomime fish,” Willie explains. “It’s behind you!”