A series of undulating mounds sinks into the grass, organic edges echoing the surrounding topography — a subterranean lair camouflaged to the specifications of a Bond villain. Inside, beyond the entranceway, a cavernous atrium beckons your neck to tilt back toward the rafters, to spot the lofted ceiling dimpled with 2,500 separate sections of curved wood, held in place by 1,800 beams. Walls are lined with glass, encasing 840 bottles up to 194 years old, displayed like the stacks at an Ivy League library. A console-controlled camera flies on mounted tracks — a ‘video periscope’ providing close-up imagery of selected labels. An uninterrupted 200-meter glass wall frames the Scottish highlands unfurling toward the horizon.
Enter The Macallan’s new state-of-the-art distillery and visitor center, which opens to the public on June 2.