William Grant & Sons Ltd is an independent, family-owned Scottish company that distills Scotch whisky and other selected categories of spirits. It was established in 1887[1] by William Grant, and is run by Grant's descendants as of 2018.[2] It is the largest of the handful of Scotch whisky distillers remaining in family ownership.[3]
The company is the third largest producer of Scotch whisky (8% market share), shipping about 7.6million cases per year, with brands including Glenfiddich and Balvenie.[4][5] The first and second largest, respectively, are Diageo (34.4%), and Pernod Ricard.[6][7] The company is registered at The Glenfiddich distillery in Dufftown.[8] The main operational headquarters are located at Strathclyde Business Park, North Lanarkshire. Sales and marketing headquarters are in Richmond, London. The company is a member of the Scotch Whisky Association.[9][3]
William Grant was born in Dufftown in 1839. In 1886, Grant and his six sons started construction of Glenfiddich distillery.[13] On Christmas Day, 1887, the distillery was operational.[14]
In 1892, William Grant & Sons built a second neighbouring distillery called Balvenie.[15]
In May 2010 the group bought four brands from C&C Group, including Tullamore D.E.W., for €300m.[25] In September they sold the three minor brands (Irish Mist, Carolans, Frangelico) to Gruppo Campari for €129m, so in effect, Grants paid €171m for the Tullamore D.E.W. brand and its production facilities.[26]
In July 2014 Grant's donated "in the region of £100,000" to the unionist campaign group Better Together, with the company being "said to have also donated smaller sums of money to other groups who are campaigning for a 'No' vote," ahead of the Scottish independence referendum.[27]
In September 2014, William Grant & Sons, bought Drambuieliqueur for an estimated price of about £100 million.[28][29]
In March 2020, the company switched production at three of its distilleries to create approximately five million litres of ethanol over an eight-week period to produce hand sanitiser during the Covid-19 pandemic.[30] In that same month, William Grant & Sons closed all of its visitor centres due to the same pandemic.[31] In June 2020, the company reopened some of its visitor centres with increased hygiene measures.[32]
In September 2020, Fistful of Bourbon the company first bourbon was launched in the American market.[33]
In February 2022, William Grant & Sons launched its first low-alcoholic spirits Atopia.[34]
In September 2023, it was announced William Grant & Sons had acquired the Guildford-headquartered gin producer, Silent Pool Distillers.[35]
In September 2024, William Grant & Sons reached an agreement to buy The Famous Grouse and Naked Malt from Edrington, subject to customary regulatory approvals.[36]
Convalmore distillery is a former whisky distillery in Dufftown, closing operations in 1985. William Grant & Sons bought the distillery in 1992, for the warehouses, to increase warehousing capacity for Glenfiddich. The Convalmore distillery produced whisky for other brands. The name Convalmore however is used for selected whiskies, although the distillery never produced a whisky under their own name. The brand name is owned by Diageo.[4]
The company's leading single malt Scotch brand is Glenfiddich, the best-selling single malt Scotch in the world as of 2016.[41] Roughly 1.22million cases of Glenfiddich were sold in 2017. Another Grant single malt Scotch whisky also made the top ten list of best-selling Scotch whiskies in 2017: The Balvenie (#6).[42][4] Another very popular blended whisky is Monkey Shoulder.[42] In 2021 the company's leading blended whisky, Grant's, was the number three in the world's best-selling Scotch whiskies behind Johnnie Walker and Ballantine’s.[43]
William Grant & Sons produces a number of rare whiskies, most of which are described in the articles on Glenfiddich, Grant's and The Balvenie. However, their rare whiskies also include:
Girvan First Batch Distillation (from casks filled in 1964)
Ladyburn (from Ladyburn distillery, closed in 1975)
Snow Phoenix (a one-off by Glenfiddich produced as a blend of all the whisky—between three and 50 years in age—recovered after heavy snow destroyed a warehouse where the whisky was being aged)
William Grant & Sons and the Edrington Group took Highland Distillers private in 1999[47] forming the 1887 Company, in which William Grant and Sons hold a 30% stake.
Scotch whisky, often simply called whisky or Scotch, is malt whisky or grain whisky made in Scotland.
Single malt Scotch refers to single malt whisky made in Scotland. To qualify for this category, a whisky must have been distilled at a single distillery using a pot still distillation process and made from a mash of malted barley. Therefore, a single malt means that the whisky has not been blended elsewhere with whisky from other distilleries. As with any Scotch whisky, a single malt Scotch must be distilled in Scotland and matured in oak casks in Scotland for at least three years, although most single malts are matured longer.
Speyside single malts are single malt Scotch whiskies, distilled in Strathspey, the area around the River Spey in Moray and Badenoch and Strathspey, in northeastern Scotland.
Glenfiddich distillery is a Speyside single malt Scotch whisky distillery located in the Scottish burgh of Dufftown in Moray, Scotland. Is owned by William Grant & Sons. The name Glenfiddich derives from the Scottish Gaelic Gleann Fhiodhaich meaning "valley of the deer", which is reflected in Glenfiddich's stag logo.
Grant's is a blended Scotch whisky, produced by the company William Grant & Sons in Scotland.
A master blender is an individual who develops specific blended spirits using a combination of spirits with different characteristics. For example, in the Scotch whisky industry, master blenders choose which single malts and grain whiskies to combine to make particular brands of blended whisky. A master blender is not the same thing as a master distiller, although one person may do both jobs at small craft distilleries. As the name suggests, the blender creates blends using spirits from different casks and is responsible for making sure the product remains consistent across different batches, while the distiller is either directly responsible for the mashing and distilling of spirits or simply holds the title as the administrative and marketing figurehead of the company.
Lowland single malts are single malt whiskies distilled in Scotland's lowlands. The region is home to distilleries such as: Annandale in Annan; Auchentoshan near Clydebank; Bladnoch in Galloway; Daftmill in Fife; The Girvan Distilleries near Girvan; and Glenkinchie distillery near Edinburgh.
David Stewart is the long-time master blender and malt master for William Grant & Sons distillers.
William Grant was a Scottish distiller and entrepreneur who founded William Grant & Sons, the manufacturer of Glenfiddich, as such, the first company in the world to market a true single malt whisky and a leading brand today.
The Edrington Group Limited, trading as Edrington, is a privately owned international spirits company based in Glasgow, Scotland. It produces single malts such as The Macallan, Highland Park, The Glenrothes, Naked Malt, and The Famous Grouse blended Scotch whisky. The spirits portfolio also includes Noble Oak Bourbon of Independence, Kentucky, and Brugal, the leading golden rum in the Caribbean. It also owns shares in Wyoming Whiskey, an American whiskey made in Kirby, Wyoming, and No. 3 London Dry Gin.
Kininvie distillery is a Speyside single malt Scotch whisky distillery located in Dufftown, Moray, Scotland. The distillery is owned by William Grant & Sons and the product from the distillery is used in their blended malt and blended whisky brands.
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) is a trade organisation that represents the Scotch whisky industry. The Scotch whisky industry is an important part of the Scottish economy, and particularly the Scottish export market.
Girvan distillery is a grain whisky distillery located in South Ayrshire, Scotland.
Ailsa Bay distillery is a Lowland whisky distillery located in South Ayrshire, Scotland. The distillery is owned by William Grant & Sons.
Alexander Grant "Sandy" Gordon, was a Scottish distiller who was credited with creating a global market for single malt Scotch whisky. As a managing director of the William Grant and Sons Glenfiddich distillery between 1968 and 1996, he is credited with global market success of the Glenfiddich brand. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1988.
Convalmore distillery is a inactive Speyside single malt Scotch whisky in Dufftown, Moray, Scotland.
Saxa Vord distillery is a Scotch whisky and gin distillery on the island of Unst, part of the Shetland islands. The distillery takes its name from its location immediately south of RAF Saxa Vord, an RAF station and headland. The distillery buildings are adjacent to the SaxaVord Spaceport.
Monkey Shoulder is a brand of Scotch whisky produced by William Grant & Sons in Scotland. Monkey Shoulder is a blended malt whisky, one of a small number of whiskies in this style. As of 2023, Monkey Shoulder is the world's third best-selling brand of Scotch whisky, trailing Johnnie Walker and The Macallan.
Ian Macleod Distillers Ltd. is an independent, family-owned, Scottish concern which produces Scotch whisky and other spirits. Ian MacLeod is based in Broxburn, Scotland. It was founded by Leonard Russell, Snr. in 1933. They own three single malt whisky distilleries: Glengoyne, Tamdhu, and Rosebank. They also produce a number of other distilled spirits including Edinburgh Gin and Smokehead Islay Whisky.
References
↑ "Welcome". William Grant & Sons. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
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