A large single malt whisky distillery on the left bank of the River Spey, opposite Craigellachie and a mile (1.8 km) northeast of Aberlour in Moray. The Macallan Distillery was founded in 1824 by Alexander Reid, a barley farmer and school teacher, on land leased here from the Earl of Seafield. Having passed through various owners, the Macallan Distillery was acquired by Highland Distillers in 1996, which itself was bought by jointly by the Glasgow-based Edrington Group and Dufftown-based William Grant & Sons. Over the years, the distillery grew up as jumble of buildings around Easter Elchies House, with additional stills installed 1965 and 1975. However between 2014-18, a new distillery was built nearby at a cost of £140 million, to a strikingly modern design by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, who had previously designed Heathrow Terminal Five. With an undulating grass-covered wooden roof, it is designed to integrate with the landscape, minimising its visual impact. The roof comprises 380,000 individual components and is said to be one of the most complicated timber structures in the world. Twenty-four new copper spirit stills were installed inside, each holding 3900 litres, together with twelve wash stills with capacities of 12,950 litres. Water is sourced from boreholes. The distillery is capable of producing up to 15,000,000 litres of whisky per year, matured in sherry casks in extensive bonded warehouses on site. A rare 1926 bottle of Macallan broke the record for most expensive spirit ever sold at auction reaching $1.9 million in 2019. Macallan is also a constituent of the Famous Grouse blended whisky.
The new distillery building incorporates a visitor centre and restaurant
