At Macallan distillery, I see whiskey reflected in the waters of the River Spey – 05/04/2023 – Josimar Melo

The river is narrow, the other side half a hundred meters ahead. Its waters shine an intense cobalt blue, not the grayish of many river waters (but not the brightest sky blue I’ve ever seen, on the Soča, a river squeezed into a valley in Slovenia).

Was this color derived, in its own way, from the clear sky that shone on that mild afternoon, supplanting the frosty morning that had greeted the beginning of spring in Scotland?

We entered the last week of March of this year. I fell into a bucolic reverie as I observed another astonishing feature of the River Spey: the urgency of its current. We weren’t on a steep slope, but the water was rushing north toward the ocean. In 50 kilometers and half a dozen humps, it would pour into an icy North Sea bay.

It was to that point that my mind traveled, imagining the arrival of pregnant wild salmon, facing the strong current in search of the cradle of the river that was also their cradle: after they are born, wild salmon travel thousands of kilometers in the ocean but return exactly to the place where they were born to lay their precious eggs. And the River Spey is one of the most iconic Atlantic salmon rivers in the world.

They are delicious wild fish caught in the allowed months. Especially if enjoyed with the elegant company of a great scotch whisky, such as those produced by the distilleries along the Spey (the region called Speyside). I didn’t have the salmon this visit, but I had a few glasses of The Macallan, the most famous and awarded Scotch whisky. More: this happened on the property of this brand – The Macallan is a rare distillery that not only sits on the bank of the famous river but also has a stretch of it running through the property.

For those who appreciate whiskey, it is a rare privilege to visit it. There is so much the old building (Easter Elchies House), which still adorns the labels of this brand that will complete two centuries next year; as well as the very modern facilities of its new distillery, a building whose roof (wavy and covered with grass, mimicking the surrounding land) combines bold architecture, hi-tech solutions and respectful harmony with nature.

The Macallan is full of beneficial quirks, which I could see in loco when invited to get to know them up close. The brand does not produce “blended” whiskeys (mixtures of the product from several distilleries), but “single malts” (products from a single distillery). It does not add caramel or other ingredients to standardize the color of the liquid, which is always natural, derived from the age (and type) of wood.

Keeps breaking records (most expensive whiskey or wine sold at auction, for almost $2 million in 2019 – The Macallan 1926, 60 years old; oldest whiskey on the market – The Macallan The Reach 81 years old). Proceeds are donated to worthy causes.

It ages its distillates (“spirits”) in barrels used to make sherry (which can be made of different types of wood, but always impregnated with the perfume of the mythical wine of Spanish Andalusia). And, given the differences in the original woods (such as French or American oak) and the aging times of each barrel (years and decades), it makes countless blends resulting in a huge variety of labels, with countless aromas and colors.

I tasted some of them on the visit. There is not space to describe the nuances of each one, the special elegance, the differences in character. The 30th Anniversary Double Cask, the Home Collection, the Edition nº 4, the Rare Cask Black…

And Edition nº 6, sipped before the river Spey that inspired it, with the blue label harmonizing with the waters (and the sky reflected in them) of that spring dawn.

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