Glengrant

The Grant brothers, two former illegal distillers and smugglers, founded the Glen Grant distillery in 1840. James and John Grant made a sensible choice in the location for their first legal business. The distillery’s site has a close proximity to a good port, Garmouth, the river Spey, and plentiful fields of barley. This selection of factors proved to be a recipe for success, with the distillery prospering easily. In 1872, James Grant died and the distillery passed to his son, Major James Grant Junior. The Major took control of the distillery that his father founded, and also founded another neighboring distillery himself, Glen Grant No. 2, to help contribute to production capacity. Sadly, Glen Grant No. 2 was forced to close just five years after being opened, in 1902.

In 1952, Glen Grant merged with George & J.G. Smith Ltd, to form The Glenlivet & Glen Grant Distilleries Ltd; in 1970 this concern amalgamated with the blending house Hill, Thomas & Company and with Longmorn Distilleries, to became The Glenlivet Distillers Ltd, which was purchased by Seagam Company in 1978.
When Pernod Ricard took over Seagram’s whisky arm in 2001, Glen Grant was deemed legally surplus and in 2006 it was snapped up by Gruppo Campari.
Today, Glen Grant is still run by master distiller Dennis Malcolm who was born at the distillery in 1946 and started working there in 1961.