Location and contact details
Location: The Glenlivet Distillery, Ballindalloch, Banffshire, AB37 9DB
Visit Type: Vistor Centre
Co-ordinates: 57.343060, -3.338694
Telephone: +44 (0) 1340 821 720
Web: https://www.theglenlivet.com/ 
Twitter: The Glenlivet (@TheGlenlivet)Facts and figures
| Location | The Glenlivet Distillery, Ballindalloch, Banffshire, AB37 9DB |
| Founded | 1824 |
| Owner | Pernod Ricard |
| Water Source | Josie's Well (yielding 3,500-gallons of pure cold water per hour), which is supplemented by the Blai |
| Stills | 7 wash stills (15,000 litres) 7 spirit stills (10,000 litres) |
Opening Hours
Opening hours are 0930-1600 Monday to Saturday and 1200-1600 Sundays between March and November; tours leave every 20 minutes.
Tours
The Glenlivet Classic Tour
£12.50
Enjoy the true Spirit of the Glen
This classic tour offers you a sensory introduction to the whole, finely-crafted process of whisky-making in the modern distillery. You’ll see the racked casks of slowly maturing malts in a traditional bonded warehouse and then – for guests aged 18 or over – an invitation to toast George Smith, with a dram of The Glenlivet, on the very land he once farmed, nearly two hundred years ago.
Cost: £12.50 per person
Daily tours from 10am and every half hour, and last tour at 4.30pm
Duration: 1 ¼ hours (pre-booking advised)
Maximum Group size: 12
Definitive Spirit
£65
This unique experience is designed to help you understand the standards set by the founder George Smith, and how they are upheld every day by the Master Distiller and his team to ensure that they continue to distil only the very best spirit. Includes an in-depth tour, a sample of the new make spirit followed by a selection from the range of other whiskies to comprehend the marriage of the spirit and the wood in creating the definitive whisky.
Duration: up to 2 hours 30 minutes. (pre-booking essential)
Maximum group size: 10
Drams of Distinction Tasting
£40
With an unrivalled history and reputation, The Glenlivet is a unique single malt whisky, steeped in rich heritage and character. Unravel the legacy left by founder George Smith by sampling a selection of the rarer single malts, accompanied by a variety of flavoursome food bites, designed to complement the individual taste elements of each of the whiskies, adding an extra dimension to an unforgettable tasting experience. Please note that this tasting does not include a distillery tour.
Duration: up to 1 hour (pre-booking essential)
Maximum group size: 10
The Glenlivet Outdoor Experience
£25
Discover the taste of The Glenlivet with a view.
New for 2019, this is a unique experience which explores the natural world of whisky and the raw materials behind The Glenlivet Single Malt.
While enjoying breath-taking views of The Glenlivet Valley, guests enjoy the opportunity to get hands on with the barley, water, copper and oak to discover how each material influences the spirit before partaking in a tutored tasting of The Glenlivet New Make, Nadurra First Fill, Nadurra Oloroso and Nadurra Peated. These whiskies, all cask strength and non-chill filtered, offer guests the chance to examine different flavour profiles and truly understand the art of maturation.
Duration: up to 1 hours 30 minutes. (pre-booking essential)
Maximum group size: 16
Review: Definitive Spirit (14:00 on 28/09/2019)
Price: £65
I booked the tour of the Glenlivet online and went for the Definitive Spirit Tour which gives a more in depth tour and a tasting of seven whiskies and the new make spirit. The distillery is in the middle of nowhere and is not served by public transport; there is a large car park just outside the visitor centre.
The tour is limited to 10 people are had four of us on the tour; I'd been at The Macallan for a tour in the morning and came straight to the distillery. With plenty of time to kill, I had lunch in the Glenlivet's cafe which included a bit of a laugh when it was confirmed the ham and cheese sandwich didn't have mayonnaise but did have vegan spread.
Two of the tour attendees were late so the tour started without them; the other had been n the morning tour at The Macallan with me. The tour started with a short trip through the museum where the guide, Andrew, introduced the key points of the Glenlivet's history.
The tour then moved onto a room which contains a Porteus mill which is no longer in use; Andrew confirmed it is no longer used as it is too small, not because it doesn't work. It's a shame to see such a good mill sat unused, especially which large parts of the casing cut away to allow you to see inside.
We then moved onto the production area, which is in the large building opened in 2010, for an in depth tour of the production. You move through the mashing, fermentation and then distilling. During the discussion on fermentation, the remaining two visitors arrived and joined the group. There was a short recap given by Andrew.
After the distillation we moved outside to the warehouse where we were told about the barrels used and aging and got to try a whisky drawn straight from the cask. We weren't told anything about the whisky, there was no markings on the cask, other than it is 3+ years old. The cask it came from was a sherry butt and the whisky was a very dark reddish brown.
After this we returned to the visitor centre to a plush tasting room where we got to sample the new make spirit and six further whiskies:
- The Glenlivet Founder's Reserve Single Malt Scotch Whisky
- The Glenlivet 12 Year Old Scotch Malt Whisky
- The Glenlivet Captain's Reserve Whisky
- Glenlivet 15 Year Old Scotch Malt Whisky
- Glenlivet 18 Year Old Scotch Whisky
The final whisky was a distillery exclusive, a 21 year old Founders Reserve which predates the current core range Founders Reserve which was apparently named in a marketing mistake.
A A complimentary drivers pack is supplied as part of the tour, but only takes four samples. I'd heard this mentioned at the start of the tour and as we left the warehouse I commented about popping to the car to pick up some spare bottles but was told they'd sort me out with enough. However, at the end of the tour I was only given the standard drivers pack so had to go back down to the car to get the spare bottles; this would have been quicker and easier to get them on the way from the warehouse to tasting room.
Photography was not allowed inside the production areas of the distilleries, which is quite unusual these days.
The tour was quite good and did do more depth than the standard tour. If I hadn't done the Tomintoul and Ballindaloch tours, I'd probably rate it higher than I currently do.
History
Illicit distilleries were commonplace throughout the Speyside area from medieval times but were largely made redundant with the passing of the Excise Act in 1823. It was under this legislation that legal distilleries could be formed, subject to holding a license. Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, was allegedly instrumental in the passing of this legislation. Although there is no historical record of his involvement in the issue, his tenant, George Smith, who was operating an illicit distillery at the time, became the first person in Glenlivet to apply for and receive a license to legally produce spirit. This would prove to be an unpopular decision; every other distiller was operating illegally at the time and hoping the new Excise Act would be repealed, something which would not happen if some distillers accepted the new law. Threats were made against George Smith, so George Gordon provided Smith with two pistols to be used to ensure both his own safety and that of the distillery. In 1824, The Glenlivet distillery was established at Upper Drumin by George and his youngest son John Gordon Smith.
George Smith established a second distillery during 1849, named the Cairngorm-Delnabo Distillery but by 1855 or 1856, both distilleries were running at full capacity, and were unable to meet rising demand. The operation of two separate sites was also proving difficult and expensive, so plans were formed around the same time to build a new, larger distillery further down the hill at Minmore. Construction of this new distillery was underway when the old Upper Drumin distillery was destroyed by fire during 1858. Construction of the new Minmore distillery was sped up and salvageable equipment from the Upper Drumin distillery was transferred to the new Mimmore distillery. The Delnabo distillery was closed at the same time and the best parts of the equipment were also transferred to the Minmore plant. Production commenced at the new plant during 1859 and it was around the same time the legal entity of George & J.G. Smith, Ltd. was formed.
George Smith died in 1871 and his son John Gordon Smith inherited the distillery. The quality of the product from their distillery had resulted in the other distilleries in the area renaming their products to "Glenlivet" and by the time of George's death, several distillers were doing so. J.G. Smith decided to take legal action and tried to claim ownership on The Glenlivet name, this legal action was only partially successful - the verdict forced other distillers in the area to stop calling their whisky Glenlivet and gave J.G. Smith and the blender Andrew Usher sole permission to use the brand, but permitted other distilleries to hyphenate their distillery name with the "Glenlivet" name, which resulted in new distillery names such as The Glen Moray-Glenlivet Distillery, a distillery which is situated nearby.
The distillery remained open throughout the Great Depression, an event which affected many other distilleries; it wasn't until the Second World War that the distillery was mothballed for the first time, by Government decree. In the aftermath of World War Two, Britain was heavily indebted and needed to export large quantities of goods to earn foreign revenue (mainly United States dollars). Distilling was an ideal industry with whisky much in demand overseas. Distilling restrictions were rapidly lifted and output from the distillery was at pre-war levels by 1947, despite ongoing barley, fuel, and manpower limitations. Bread rationing was retained until 1948 in order to ensure supplies of grain for the distilleries.
Glenlivet Distillery (George & J.G. Smith, Ltd.) merged with the Glen Grant Distillery (J. & J. Grant Glen Grant, Ltd.) in 1953 to form The Glenlivet and Glen Grant Distillers, Ltd.. The company would go on to merge with Hill Thomson & Co., Ltd. and Longmorn-Glenlivet Distilleries, Ltd. in 1970 before changing their name to Glenlivet Distillers Ltd in 1972. The company was then purchased by Canadian drinks and media company Seagram in 1977. Seagram's alcohol production interests were acquired by Pernod Ricard and Diageo during 2000, with ownership of Glenlivet Distillers passing to Pernod Ricard. Glen Grant Distillery was sold to Campari Group in 2005.
The Glenlivet is the best selling malt whisky in the United States, and the fourth best selling in the UK with a 7% market share. The Glenlivet is the world's second best selling single malt whisky, and current global sales total 6 million bottles per annum.
