There’s only so many ways we can talk about how significant a name Macallan is within the whisky world, yet it’s still worth investigating the distillery’s influence on the wider industry. We’ll begin with some news from south of the border.
Ex-Macallan whiskymaker Sarah Burgess has recently joined the team at The Lakes Distillery, taking over from Dhavall Ghandi as lead whisky maker. Burgess brings over 25 years of experience to the young distillery, including spells managing distilleries under the Diageo umbrella. While at Macallan she selected the whiskies behind the Macallan Genesis and the Anecdote of Ages collection.
Her experience makes her a perfect fit for The Lakes Distillery, whose sherry-led house style owes more than a small debt to Macallan’s well established sherry-heavy whiskies. Similarly, it could be argued that Lakes’ Whiskymakers Editions also take a page out of the Macallan playbook. Limited edition, collectible, NAS whiskies with artsy labels and enigmatic names sold at mid-to-premium prices - undeniably Macallanesque (which, incidentally, sounds like the name of a whisky either distillery would release).
Indeed the Macallan connection appears to be by design when one considers that previous whiskymaker Dhavall Ghandi - who left The Lakes Distillery in January 2022 and was behind their award-winning releases such as The Whiskymakers Reserve - had also previously worked at Macallan.
It’s unfair to dismiss The Lakes Distillery’s achievements as those of a mere Macallan knock-off. They are doubtlessly excelling in their own right. Nevertheless, Macallan’s template for producing and marketing their whisky has been immensely successful, so who can blame any company for drawing inspiration from Easter Elchies? And of course, The Lakes aren’t the only distillery to do so.
In 2019 Lalique, who had previously designed and created decanters for premium Macallan releases, became co-owners of the Glenturret distillery. The bottles housing Glenturret whisky since their relaunch have an air of luxury about them and bear a passing resemblance to the Lalique-designed decanter of the Macallan No6 from 2015. Factor in former Macallan whiskymaker Bob Dalgarno taking the helm of Glenturret as Master Blender, and we can see that the ‘new’ Glenturret may also be trying to replicate some of Macallan’s success via assimilation of former staff and ideas regarding presentation.
Bladnoch also hired former Macallan Master Distiller Nick Savage in 2019 and he has doubtlessly played an important part in Bladnoch’s transformation from runt of the Lowland litter to a highly-regarded, award-winning treasure.
Even well-established brands such as Bowmore have taken a cue from Macallan’s mastery of brand presentation. The Islay distillery worked with Ken Grier’s luxury brand consultancy business on establishing Bowmore’s ongoing partnership with Aston Martin. Those familiar with Ken’s work will know that he was instrumental in increasing the profile and profitability of some of the world’s best known whisky names during his 20 years at Edrington - particularly when it came to forging Macallan’s relationships with other luxury brands, including the aforementioned Lalique collaboration.
Anyone reading this who now finds themselves worried about the great Macallanification of the whisky industry need not worry. The whisky industry thrives on its diversity; one of the great joys lies in how no two drams are ever truly the same (Macallanificiation would also be a much less catchy name for a whisky…).
For each of the examples listed above where a distillery has seemingly ‘borrowed’ something from Macallan - a production principle, a marketing philosophy, or a familiar name -, it’s worth remembering that they’re still forging their own identity and character. A rising tide lifts all boats, so if some of Macallan’s successful ideas lead to greater prosperity for the wider industry, then surely we, the consumer, win too.