Opp Macallan Distillery — Local services in Great Britain

An absolutely magnificent building, built into the surrounding landscape with glass frontage and beautiful views over the estate.

The distillery centre is elegant and an impressive showpiece but sadly it is just that, a showpiece. The distillery shop looks impressive but the vast majority of the bottles on show aren't actually available for sale, which begs the question of why do they display them prominently in their distillery shop. Well the reason for this is because if they only displayed what they actually had available for sale they wouldn't need a shop, just a solitary shelf as they only have about 6 standard bottles actually available for sale.

My next gripe relates to tours of the distillery. It's booked so far in advance that it's almost impossible for someone like myself to book as planning so far ahead just isn't possible in my life, so I'm always unable to get on one of the tours.

My next gripe is that before my recent visit in January, I visited about July 2021. I was very happy to see the glasses of their rarer statements available in the bar at normal bar prices. I.e. a bottle they sold for £250 you could buy a dram for £35, the bottle had since flown up in price and was worth thousands, so getting to try it for 3-4x retail price (normal bar pricing) was an excellent perk of visiting the distillery. Sadly on our recent visit they were now charging by the dram based on market value rather than Macallan's retail price and the same dram I had for £35 was costing over £200 which is outrageous. I find this absolutely despicable as companies creating the products shouldn't be keeping stock and charging aftermarket prices, it's a shining example of corporate greed for me. They were happy to sell it at their retail price and they should stick with that regardless of aftermarket pricing.

Those gripes aside, the distillery centre is stunning. There is a 50 foot high wall of whisky housing some incredible bottles. The shop is nice and showcases a lot of bottles, just don't expect to buy any of them and there's a cafe / brasserie on the ground floor that serves good quality food, teas and coffees and snacks. There's also a beautiful bar up top with gorgeous views over the estate and a peek into the stills and machinery that create the whisky.

Views into the distillery show a very clean and minimalist setup that looks very largely automated. Not entirely sure if this is a good thing in the grand scheme of things, but it definitely looks impressive. There is an area outside the upper floor bar that takes you out onto the hill but the doors haven't been open when I've attended. You can however have a walk round if you go up the path at the side of tunnel.

I did really like the fact that there's free EV charging for my Tesla when I visited, it's a nice perk and charges relatively quick.

I think in summary it's a wonderful building, but it's more of a showpiece than a traditional distillery centre. There are no special releases or distillery only bottlings, everything is more for show than practicality and if I'm perfectly honest I've never fully forgiven Macallan for taking their 10 and 12 yo age statements off the shelf in the UK and replacement it with the much much inferior Macallan Gold.

I understand they are now owned by a much bigger company and that capitalism seems to have taking place with an international focus, but I think they need to remember the customers that built the brand and look after their UK customer base.

Still a lovely...

This was an incredible experience. I went here to celebrate my partners birthday at the site where her favorite Scotch is made. She had travelled across the world to come here. First impressions began with a path leading up to the major building revealed a unique and aesthetically pleasing combination of modern architecture with the green, natural landscape. Once we started our tour we were in awe of the sheer size of the operation and how delicately the visitor experience was tailored, blending technology with old fashioned models and the likes. The staff we interacted with was composed of cheerful and helpful people who were quick to ask questions and provide recommendations. Their down-to-earth approach to customer service was elevated with an approachable and relatable sense of humor. They made us feel quite welcome here. We’ll always cherish this special place. We’ll be back here if given the...

BOOK AHEAD OR DON'T BOTHER. Decided to go there on a Friday morning for a tour. Turned up only to be told that they were fully booked. Fair enough, I could understand if it was the height of summer and the place was heaving, but the car park was empty, the great hall had 3 other people in it. I don't even dare imagine how they will handle summer crowds. I've visited plenty of distilleries in the area, and I've never had to book. Ironically this is the biggest and most modern distillery I've tried to visit, and it failed at handling a Friday morning "crowd" in mid march... To be fair, there's plenty of staff milling around, and they're nice enough, and the whisky bottle display is interesting, but I strongly recommend you go see another distillery to avoid...