Surrounded by 485 acres of nature and with nine protected species co-habiting on-site, The Macallan Estate stands as a testament to proactive ecosystem management and restoration in action.
At the centre of this Estate is Rachel Walters, Director of Operations, whose 25-year tenure at Edrington has shaped everything from a more sustainable approach to oak sourcing and traceability to the meticulous whisky-making process famed by The Macallan. She tells us how environmental sustainability is woven into The Macallan’s heritage and operations, introduces us to the lovable red squirrels roaming the Estate, and explains why her team are counting butterflies.
How does the Estate pillar specifically shape the brand philosophy?
When we talk about the Estate, it’s two things really: the sense of place and the sense of history. The Macallan wouldn’t be The Macallan if it didn’t have those two things. Everything that’s shaped our legacy for 201 years now is rooted in the Estate. One of the great privileges of my job is that you can find these little aspects of history all around. For example, above the door of Easter Elchies House (printed on the label of every bottle of The Macallan), it says 1700 – so I'm instantly feeling this sense of privilege, knowing that was 325 years ago.
The brand has a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2045. So far, what steps have been taken to achieve that goal?
The first thing is the energy we use – the number one priority when we think of carbon emissions. Today, our actual distillation process is powered primarily by a mix of local biomass and certified renewable single-source wind generated electricity. We're striving every year to get better and better. Just this past year, we installed solar panels, allowing us to also self-generate electricity right here at the Estate.
Secondly, is the focus we place on our packaging. For instance, for our latest Timeless Collection, we’ve made a big effort to ensure as many materials are recyclable, including a beautiful new capsule that I personally find very attractive. In 2023 we also introduced a bottle across our core range that is 11% lighter than our previous design.
The third element takes us back to our Estate and is our focus on habitat management. Our Ecosystem Restoration Plan – or ERP – aims to increase the range of ecosystem services on the Estate and we are proud to have been nominated in the ‘Business for Nature’ category of the 2025 Nature of Scotland Awards for our work in this area.
There are nine protected species in the Estate. Which species are particularly significant to the Estate?
The first one is the Atlantic salmon – the river is our lifeblood, and the Atlantic Salmon is just the most phenomenal animal. It starts life in fresh water, spends four or five years in the ocean, then returns upstream to spawn. It’s such a courageous creature. But with climate change, shifting river levels, and increasing water temperatures, it’s under threat. So we’re focused on salmon habitat restoration. Right now, we’re working on improving the flow of the stream running through the Macallan Estate to help improve access to the salmon’s spawning grounds.
Red squirrels are probably my favourite, and they are certainly very cute and entertaining to watch. They are about half the size of the grey squirrels. They’re pushed out by the bigger grey squirrels, but around The Macallan Estate, there are no grey squirrels, just red ones. We’ve seen healthy populations in our little corner.
The third one is the Meadow Brown butterfly. While it's not the most glamorous or spectacular creature, ecologists consider it an indicator species –if its population grows, it sends a strong signal about the overall health of the ecosystems services across our estate. And we have fun with it too, in a really engaging way – we have the whole team involved in butterfly counting!
Sustainability may sound like a modern concept, but it’s actually age-old wisdom. With over 200 years of heritage, what traditional sustainable practices has The Macallan embraced?
I think my best example is our agriculture. The old-fashioned way of farming was completely natural – these traditional techniques are what we now call ‘regenerative agriculture’. Instead of using pesticides, herbicides, and artificial fertilisers, we follow the old traditional way of farming, which means rotating crops. We get natural fertiliser from the cattle, and natural soil health improvement from planting clover cover-crops in the winter. We’re also gentler with ploughing to improve soil health. This isn’t modern at all. It’s how our grandparents farmed, right? They didn’t use chemicals. And this is now how we farm again and I’m so proud of it. The best thing is, it works. So far, we have produced high quality and good-yield barley this way.
You’ve done an incredible job with oak sourcing from a sustainability perspective. How important is oak sourcing to the brand?
It is so important. I think this is such a strong example of how sourcing and quality go absolutely hand in hand. Our exceptional oak casks are the single greatest contributor to the quality, natural colours and flavour of The Macallan and we invest more time, effort and resources in our wood and cask supply than any other single malt whisky. Wesley Lui We craft our own European oak casks in cooperages in Jerez, Spain after which we season our casks in sherry bodegas before they are transported for their first fill on The Macallan Estate. We have a patented Cask Tracking System with visible chain-of-custody monitoring of our European oak from Spain to our Speyside warehouses and within a year we hope to have extended this to include full forest-level European oak traceability.
What’s your favourite way to enjoy The Macallan?
Oh, that’s my hardest question. I’m going to be honest with you, there's a few different ways. But if you’re going to say favourite, you know, a real treat. The 25 Years Old Macallan means a lot to me. After 26 years with The Macallan, I enjoy drinking the 25 Years Old because I can say, ‘I helped make this.’ I think of all my memories of the 25 years of making it.