The Story
There are many ‘Glens’ in scotch whisky and a few Grants too… In the early days of Scotch whisky, most distilling took place deep in the valleys of the Scottish Highlands. Hidden from the excise men who collected taxes on Whisky. When the law did come around, the clans had a system of bonfires to signal from one hill top to the next that the collectors were on the way.
In Scotland a valley is called a Glen. Usually with a river at its base. The different Glens were often named after either after the family who distilled there of the name of the river which ran through it. Some examples are the River Fiddich and Livet.
In our case it was the Major Grant. A Major in the territorial army and a pioneer of his day. He was the first person to own a car in the Highlands. He brought electricity to the town of Rothes and built a railway following the river Spey past Aberlour, where the train station still stands. Glen Grant is proud to be the only Single Malt Scotch Whisky to still bear its founding family’s name.
Glen Grant is known for its lighter style. Our stills are very tall and narrow which produces a delicate and very high quality spirit. We also have a unique ‘purifier’ which captures the heavier oils in the distillate and returns them to be re-distilled. Single Malt connoisseurs talk lovingly about Glen Grant as one of the few single malts fine enough to stand up to over 60 years ageing.
Throughout the 174 year history of Glen Grant we’ve only had a small handful of master distillers. This year Dennis Malcolm celebrated 50 years at Glen Grant and released the Five Decades featured above.
