Casting the good King Duncan required Elixir Distillers to select a whisky of marked nobility and grace. After extensive consideration, company co-founder Sukhinder Singh and head blender Oliver Chilton settled on an exceptional single malt aged in oak for more than 50 years. ‘This Glen Grant, distilled on Speyside in 1965, fits the bill perfectly,’ says Oliver. ‘The beautiful light fruit of the spirit, the suggestion of forest floor, dusty books… an abundance of sophisticated flavours that are created only after decades in the finest wood.’

The weird sisters who prophesy Macbeth’s rise, and fall, called for serious malt whiskies shrouded in mystery. ‘The speeches and potions of the witches, the most famous blenders, were almost written in language we would use for whisky already,’ says Dave Broom. ‘In her first speech, the First Witch speaks of her cursing a sailor, a clue to the style of whisky being Maritime.’ While the identity of this sherried malt whisky has not been revealed, Elixir Distillers has hinted that it's origins lie on Islay’s Kildalton coast.

Scotland’s landscape is littered with ghost distilleries, once proud places left silent after times of hardship. When casting the First Ghost to torment Macbeth, there was no doubt that a lost distillery would play the part. ‘The selection of grain whisky offers a delicacy that reinforces the ethereal qualities of these apparitions,’ head blender Oliver Chilton explains. ‘This is shown in the First Ghost to be revealed, a single grain Scotch whisky aged 31 years, distilled at Cambus distillery.’