[MM-MALTS-L] Old Macallan - Some more elements

Wed Oct 14 19:45:55 CEST 2009

Hello again,

That turns out to be a nice and pretty interesting piece of detective work. Looking for more facts, I turned to Masako Udo's excellent book "The Scottish Whisky Distilleries". She writes about Macallan (page 420): "The stills were increased from six to twelve in 1965, to eighteen in 1974, and to twenty-one in 1975 (currently fifteen stills are working)". The book dates from 2006.

This seems to suggest a more gradual scenario: As Serge pointed out, there might have been a period of parallel operation (after all, the pipeline connection shown in Horst's pictures must have had a purpose). My guess would be that in 1980 the six oldest stills located in the old still house were mothballed. The remaining 15 stills would have been located in the new still house. If this is correct, the new still house would have been built already in 1965 (maybe later extended) and some kind of parallel operation with the pipeline might have occurred between 1965 and 1980. As a consequence, the change in 1980 would have been less radical than it appeared initially. However, there are some question marks: 1) Horst says that there more than six stills in the old still house, 2) I remember that I have heard that by recommissioning the old still house, Macallan is actualling doubling its production. But maybe my memory is wrong, or it was just a false rumour.

What do you think?

> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: "Serge Valentin" <valentin at calixo.net>
> Gesendet: 14.10.09 09:06:02
> An:  MaltManiacs operated former 'MALT-L' Whisky List <mm-malts-l at grsnet.net>
> Betreff: Re: AW: [MM-MALTS-L] Old Macallan

> Hello all,
> 
> This is all very interesting. It would be interesting to compare both  
> new makes, are they more or less identical? Are both makes filled  
> separately or are they mingled together at some point?
> It reminds me of Brora/Clynelish in a certain way, when both  
> distilleries were working in tandem (producing different whiskies as  
> we all know, but at times maybe not that different).
> 
> Also, I'm wondering if this holy list's cavern-age functioning isn't  
> just as efficient as the current 'social' networks (Twitter and such).  
> Something to do with content over function?
> 
> Santé, have a good day,
> 
> Serge
> 
> 
> Le 14 oct. 09 à 08:27, Horst Luening a écrit :
> 
> > Hello Nico!
> >
> > I am able to add pictures of the old stillhouse. You find them on  
> > this page:
> > http://www.thewhiskystore.de/dist/macallan/still.htm
> > They are the both very last pictures on this page. I took them in  
> > 1994/95.
> >
> > You are able to see six stills but if I remember right there had  
> > been more.
> > The old and the new stillhouse are connected by a pipeline bridge on  
> > which
> > the Macallan distilley sign is attached.
> >
> > Kind Regards,
> > Horst
> >
> > -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> > Von: mm-malts-l-bounces at grsnet.net
> > [mailto:mm-malts-l-bounces at grsnet.net]Im Auftrag von Nico Spiegel
> > Gesendet: Mittwoch, 14. Oktober 2009 00:58
> > An: 'MaltManiacs operated former 'MALT-L' Whisky List'
> > Betreff: [MM-MALTS-L] Old Macallan
> >
> >
> > Hello everybody,
> >
> > It's nice to see that our list has been revitalised after months of
> > extremely low traffic. So, I decided to give up my usual lurking  
> > position
> > and to contributed to the debate by asking a question. I bought  
> > recently the
> > phantastic photo book "Bottled History - Vestiges of a disappearing  
> > era in
> > Scottish malt whisky distileries" by Ian Macilwain (www.bottledhistory.com 
> > ).
> > It is essentially a collection of great photos of disused equipment,  
> > old
> > buildings and forgotten corners of (working and silent) distilleries,
> > together with statements from interviews with retired distillery  
> > workers -
> > an atmospheric journey into bygone times.
> >
> > But that's not my main point. At the end of the book, Macilwain gives
> > explanations on the particular settings where the photos were taken.  
> > Among
> > these locations figures "Old Macallan Distillery, Rothes". Macilwain  
> > says:
> > "Macallan is an immaculately clean, highly automated distillery,  
> > with a
> > deservedly high reputation. Lying behind the main still house is an
> > unobtrusive building containing the original distillery, which has  
> > been
> > mothballed since 1980. It is now being brought back into service as  
> > a result
> > of increased demand. This old distillery has been largely left alone  
> > but
> > sufficient care has been taken to ensure that the washbacks were  
> > kept filled
> > with water in a state of potential readiness for future use. In view  
> > of the
> > recent announcement regarding its refurbishent this would seem to  
> > have been
> > a very wise move" (page 135, referring to the picture on page 93).
> >
> > Now, I have heard a number of times that Macallan is increasing its  
> > capacity
> > by building new big warehouses and recommissioning a second  
> > stillhouse that
> > had been out of use for a number of years. I found this always a  
> > little bit
> > odd because it implied that at some time in the past Macallan must  
> > have cut
> > back existing capacity by something like half, making redundant a  
> > whole
> > stillhouse. With Macilwain's explanation things become clearer:  
> > There was no
> > cut-back, but actually a replacement of more or less the whole  
> > existing
> > distillery (at least the still house, including the washbacks) by  
> > brand-new
> > state of the art equipment. However, this is somewhat disturbing  
> > because it
> > would suggest a revolutionary change in production in 1980. What's  
> > more, if
> > you look at the Macallan timeline, for instance in the Malt Whisky  
> > Yearbook
> > 2009, there is no such event mentioned. They indicate rather a slow,
> > continuous increase of capacity ("1974 - The number of stills is  
> > increased
> > to 18, 1975 - An
> > other three stills are added, 1980 - The name changes to Macallan").  
> > No
> > revolution, only slow, old-fashioned organic growth - but then, what  
> > about
> > the sleeping beauty behind the main still house?
> >
> > Can anybody shed light on this mysterium? What's more, I have a  
> > Macallan
> > Gran Reserva 1980 which is a truly great whisky - where was it  
> > distilled, in
> > Macilwain's time capsule distillery or in a newly installed high  
> > tech unit?
> >
> > Nico Spiegel
> > Brussels
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