The Macallan Continues Celebrating its 200th Anniversary With This Most Surprising Collaboration
The whisky-maker pushes the boundaries of experiential with a VIP party featuring Cirque Du Soleil and a tale of the Highlands, drinks included
A 200th birthday is a remarkable thing for any brand, and storied whisky-maker The Macallan marks its bicentennial this year, offering up a steady drumbeat of ultra-high-end offerings and events. This month, it launches a collaboration and in-person experience with Cirque Du Soleil—a partnership that would not have been on any whisky aficionado’s bingo card. COOL HUNTING attended the opening night of Cirque Du Soleil SPIRIT at The Macallan estate in Speyside, Scotland.
The experience took place in one of the distillery’s high-ceilinged warehouses, a short walk from both the white-walled Highland manor that its founder Alexander Reid once lived in during the 1800s, and the recently built distillery itself, finished in 2018 and designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, with an undulating, grass-covered roof. With the River Spey rippling nearby, the locale has a deep sense of place.
The 20-some Cirque performers portray a host of Highlanders and magical woodland creatures, and enact a set piece on the importance of protecting nature. There’s even a very miniatured version of the River Spey that runs through one stage. And yes, they get wet. At two separate moments the audience is served whisky, one expression created especially for the event. It was both a party and an example of a newly invigorated sense of experiential experimentation for the whisky maker. The experience runs through the end of May, with 150 guests per night that is open to the public, but skews toward private clients and friends of the brand.
Asked about the genesis of the not-so-obvious collaboration, The Macallan’s Global Creative Director, Jaume Ferràs, laughs and says when he first proposed the idea, it gave everyone pause. But he points out that it falls in line with playful marketing and advertising the brand was known of in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s.
“We knew we wanted to tell a story about staying connected to nature,” he says. “But as a brand, we are quite playful. Scots have a core quirkiness and sense of humor—they’re not that serious. So how do you create a story about nature, but in a playful way? Now when you put these two things into the equation, the Cirque Du Soleil name almost naturally pops up.”
More importantly, he says, they agreed it should be fun. “It’s actually rather simple: The idea of a spirit is to produce conviviality and open people up to experiences. I could perhaps claim something far more complex, but we just want people to have a great time with us.” This is the third activation of the 200th anniversary celebration. The first was a bottle of 1949 vintage whisky and a red, leather-bound book that chronicles stories about the founder Reid, titled Tales of The Macallan Volume II. (Priced at $89,000.) The second was Horizon, a collaboration with carmaker Bentley, in which the companies co-designed a horizontal bottle wrought in wood and copper. It retails for $50,000.
By comparison, SPIRIT is a departure. Says Ferràs, “What we want is multiple ways to connect with people—and it doesn’t necessarily have to be led by a specific product.”
Marie-Hélène Delage, Cirque’s creative director, adds “When The Macallan called, they said, ‘Hey, we have a crazy idea. And are you open to listen to it?’ We said, ‘Yep! We want to understand more.’ And what they wanted for the 200th anniversary was something different and unique for their guests.”
In a first for Cirque, at least half of the performance is not seated, so the audience interacts with the performers. The passing of the drinks is similarly integrated in a way that feels natural. Delage says, “This is the first time at Cirque where guests are roaming, discovering and engaging. There are social moments with the capacity to have a conversation and share the discovery together, and not be seated and in a static position. Since there are only 150 guests, it’s quite exclusive and adds a lot of possibilities about proximity interaction. Watching a high level acrobatic act in such a close proximity is quite, quite amazing.”
Indeed, at various moments performers are doing tricks in the air, directly above the whisky-sipping audience. Add in the barley-scented atmosphere of the distillery itself, and it is a singular, sensory experience. Ruth Wyllie, The Macallan’s Head of Experiential, says, “This was a test platform with one of the biggest artistic companies in the world. There’s a lot more to come from us with experiential. The reasoning is there is a human touch that experiential allows us to bring in. You’re not just looking at something from a distance. You’re part of that: you can touch it, you can feel it, you see the faces of people, you can see the joy.”
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