The Macallan was one of the first farm based distilleries in Speyside, created to use up spare barley in the winter months when farming was not taking place. It sits beside the River Spey and its 485 acre estate includes the Easter Elchies house which adorns every label today. The distillery was actually named after the house and called Elchies Distillery until the late 19th century.
The distillery was taken over by James Stuart in 1868 before being sold again in 1892 to Roderick Kemp whose descendants owned it all the way until 1996.
In the hands of Edrington, the distillery has become a huge luxury brand name globally, with rare old Macallans fetching some of the highest prices at auction when they go under the hammer. The company also expanded the distillery throughout the 2000s, finally committing to a huge £140 million expansion in 2013 which saw a completely new distillery built and capacity increased to a whopping 15 million litres per annum.