The Spirit of 1926: Macallan’s ‘biggest’ film investment

The Macallan’s recent short biopic was the brand’s biggest investment behind a film in its history, the distiller confirmed.

In November, The Macallan released an eight-minute biopic, The Spirit of 1926, celebrating Janet ‘Nettie’ Harbinson, the woman behind the brand’s 1926 single malt whisky.

Jaume Ferras, global creative director for The Macallan and a producer of the film, told The Spirits Business that this was the “biggest investment behind a film that we have ever done on this brand by a country mile”.

Ferras said: “Allan Shiach, also known as Allan Scott, his career was in the film industry. And unfortunately, his brother passed away. And so [Allan] took the decision to come back and actually run The Macallan.

“And when you have someone like Allan as chairman running the brand, you get an appetite for film.

“Since the 70s, the brand has been product-placed in many films. Allan used to put the brand in all his films. But after that it became a bit of an ‘actor’ in the movies and has achieved presence in Skyfall, for example with James Bond, and some others.

“And because we have this legacy, when it comes to explaining stories about the brand, we always make sure that we have the right quality of direction, the right quality of film.”

Ferras said the film took four years to go from idea conception to launch.

“We want to inspire people, the film is about inspiring,” Ferras adds. “The film, we feel, is a very good story that when you love what you do, when you love the people you are with, when you love the place you come from and you are committed to it, and you take the right steps, that’s when you can achieve something great.”