Glenfiddich Distillery — Speyside Single Malt Whisky

Glenfiddich Distillery is a Scotch whisky distillery located near Dufftown, Speyside, Scotland. It was founded in 1886 and is currently owned by William Grant & Sons, still run by descendants of its founder five generations on. Glenfiddich is the world's best-selling single malt Scotch whisky, sold in around 180 countries.

History

Glenfiddich Distillery was built by William Grant in the glen of the River Fiddich, with the first spirit running from its stills on Christmas Day 1887. Grant reportedly built the distillery largely with his own hands and secondhand equipment, and the business has remained in family ownership ever since, now led by the fifth generation of the Grant family. During American Prohibition in the 1920s, Glenfiddich was one of only a small number of Scotch distilleries to keep expanding production, a decision that left it well placed to meet surging demand when Prohibition was repealed. In the 1960s and 1970s, Glenfiddich was a pioneer of single malt marketing at a time when blended whisky dominated the market, helping to establish single malt Scotch as a category in its own right internationally. In the summer of 1969, under great-grandsons Charles and Sandy Gordon, Glenfiddich became the first Scotch whisky distillery to open an official visitor centre, a move that helped launch modern whisky tourism; the centre was substantially rebuilt in 2005 and now welcomes over 100,000 visitors a year.

Quick Facts

• Region: Speyside
• Founded: 1886
• Owner: William Grant & Sons
• Status: Active
• Stills: 43 copper pot stills (wash and spirit stills, distinctive small "swan neck" design)

Core Range

Glenfiddich's core range is built around age-statement single malts, including the 12 Year Old (40% ABV), 15 Year Old Solera (40% ABV), 18 Year Old (40% ABV), and 21 Year Old, with older expressions such as 30, 40 and 50 Year Old bottlings forming its rare and prestige tier.