Glenfiddich Distillery

Glenfiddich is a Speyside single malt Scotch whisky distilled and bottled by William Grant & Sons at the Glenfiddich Distillery in Dufftown, Scotland. Glenfiddich is pronounced with a hard ch as in the Scottish loch.

History

The Glenfiddich Distillery was founded in 1876 by William Grant in Dufftown, Scotland, in the valley of the River Fiddich. The Glenfiddich single malt whisky first ran from the stills on Christmas Day, 1887. Following difficult times in the 1960s and 70s, many small, independent distillers were bought up or went out of business. In order to survive, W. Grant & Sons expanded their production of the drink, and introduced advertising campaigns, a visitor’s centre and from 1957 packaged the Scotch in distinctive triangular bottles. Later, W. Grant & Sons was one of the first distilleries to package its bottles in tubes and gift tins, as well as recognising the importance of the duty-free market for spirits. This marketing strategy was successful, and Glenfiddich has now become the world’s best-selling single malt. It is sold in 180 countries, and accounts for about 30% of single malt sales.

Production

The whisky is the only Highland or Speyside Scotch whisky to be distilled, matured and bottled at a single distillery[citation needed]. The distillery is the only Scotch whisky distillery to use a single source of natural spring water[citation needed]. This source is the Robbie Dhu springs. Glenfiddich is matured in oak casks such as rum casks from Cuba (in the case of Gran Reserva), Bourbon whiskey barrels from America (Ancient Reserve), or sherry butts from Spain.

Whiskies

Glenfiddich is bottled at ages of 12, 15, 18, 21 and 30 years old. The distillery has also bottled a number of rare whiskies including:

Glenfiddich 40 Year Old (from casks filled in 1963)
Glenfiddich 50 Year Old
Glenfiddich 1937 (this whisky was bottled in 2001 and therefore it is 64 years old – years spent in the bottle are not counted)

Other products include Caoran Reserve & Solera Reserve.

Glenfiddich Awards

Since 1970, Glenfiddich has promoted the Glenfiddich Food and Drink Awards to honour distinguished writing and broadcasting in the fields of food and drink in the UK.