Location and contact details
Location: Glen Grant Distillery, Rothes, Aberlour, AB38 7BS
Visit Type: Vistor Centre
Co-ordinates: 57.530018, -3.210897
Email: visitorcentre[at]glengrant.com
Web: http://www.glengrant.com/ Facts and figures
| Location | Glen Grant Distillery, Rothes, Aberlour, AB38 7BS |
| Founded | 1840 |
| Owner | Gruppo Campari |
| Water Source | The Glen Grant burn |
| Stills | 4 wash stills (15,000 litres) 4 spirit stills (9,600 litres) |
Opening Hours
Open seven days a week throughout the year (half day Sunday between November to March; check for details of opening hours. Last tour 1600 every day.
Tours
Distillery Tour
£7.50
Tour of the distillery including tasting of two Glen Grant expressions.
Review: Distillery Tour (16:00 on 25/09/2019)
Price: £7.5
After touring Glen Moray I had a bit of time left over so called Glen Grant to see if they could fit me onto a tour; I reserved a place on the 1600 tour and drove down to the distillery. I arrived early, paid and took a walk down to their coffee shop. I also had time to take a walk through the gardens before returning to the visitor centre for the tour.
It turned out I was the only person on the tour. The tour starts with an overview of the history from its founding through to the present day before moving onto the production area. The only element you don't see is the milling, but it is described well. In fact the whole tour was; I got the opportunity to get up close too all of the kit and the guide opened the mash tun and a few wash backs so I could look in.
Photography was allowed everywhere except in the warehouse and the main part of the still room; you could take photos from a platform near to the door, which did give a good viewing angle of the stills and extended a fair way into the still room.
The tour concludes with a tasting of two Glen Grant whisky expressions:
History
Glen Grant was founded in 1840, by brothers John and James Grant, two former illegal distillers and smugglers who decided to take out a license. With the sea and port of Garmouth nearby, the River Spey at its feet and barley-growing plains nearby, all the basic ingredients of malt whisky were close at hand. This time the distillery was legal.
By 1872, the founders of Glen Grant Distillery had died. Young James ‘The Major’ Grant, born in 1847, had always taken a keen interest in the distillery and having inherited the business and the title ‘Glengrant’ from his uncle John Grant, he was to prove himself a worthy successor.
Stories about ‘The Major’ abound. A legendary innovator, socialiser and traveller, he lived by his own rules and set his own standards. New ideas fascinated him and he wasn’t afraid to explore them. He was the first man in the Highlands to own a car. Glen Grant was the first distillery to have electric light. And he introduced the tall slender stills and purifiers which created the fresh malty flavour and clear colour that defines Glen Grant whisky to this day.
In 1931, Major Grant, the last Glengrant, died, survived by his three daughters and a distillery that had become one of the most famous in the world. Douglas MacKessack, his grandson, was to become his successor.
In 1972, the Glenlivet and Glen Grant Distilleries Ltd amalgamated with the blending concerns of Hill, Thomson and Co.Ltd and Longmorn Distilleries Ltd to become The Glenlivet Distillers Ltd. The original family interest in the distilleries was maintained, with two substantial outside shareholders: Courage Ltd, the brewing concern and Suntory Ltd, the Japanese distilling company.
In 2006, Campari acquired Glen Grant, its only whisky, when Allied Domecq was acquired by Pernod Ricard. To this day, Glen Grant continues to be one of the biggest selling single malts worldwide.
