Location and contact details
Location: The Glenfiddich Distillery, Dufftown, Banffshire, AB55 4DH
Visit Type: Vistor Centre
Co-ordinates: 57.455051, -3.128918
Telephone: +44 (0) 1340 820 373 
Email: glenfiddichbookings@wgrant.com
Web: http://www.glenfiddich.com/ 
Twitter: Glenfiddich Whisky (@GlenfiddichSMW )Facts and figures
| Location | The Glenfiddich Distillery, Dufftown, Banffshire, AB55 4DH |
| Founded | 1886 |
| Owner | W. Grant & Sons |
| Water Source | Clynemilton Burn |
Opening Hours
Opening hours vary through the year; check for details of opening hours
Tours
Explorer Tour
£10
On this tour, you’ll go on a journey through every part of the Glenfiddich tradition, to find out how the world’s most awarded whiskies are created.
Your visit will begin with a short film recounting the five generations of family ownership. It’ll then be followed by an on-foot tour of the distillery with the chance to see how the whiskies are created by craftsmen with generations of understanding. The tour includes a visit to the still house where you can see how our stillmen capture the sweetest part of the distillate from the unusually sized copper stills.
Time matters when whisky making. So, as well as touring the distillery, you’ll visit the original warehouse where you will explore the generations of gently maturing casks. You’ll also learn how they achieve depth and consistency of flavour throughout our range of exceptional whiskies.
The special conclusion to this visit is a tutored nosing and tasting of three of our world-renowned single malts.
Spirit of Innovation Tour
£25
AN INSIGHT INTO WHISKY INNOVATION
Following an introductory film, your guide will take you through each step in the whisky making process.
Discover how our carefully selected casks develop flavour and character over the years, by visiting warehouse 1 and warehouse 8, home to our most innovative and experimental releases.
After visiting our bottling hall this tour will conclude with a private tasting of 5 Glenfiddich Single Malts.
Glenfiddich Solera: Deconstructed
£50
A JOURNEY TO THE HEART OF A GREAT WHISKY
THE SECRETS OF SOLERA
Following your distillery tour visit warehouse 8, home to the unique Solera process. You'll discover what makes the 15 year old such an exceptional dram. You’ll then be taken into the malt masters blending room: here you will enjoy tasting a number of cask-strength samples.
You’ll also have the unique chance to step into Malt Master Brian Kinsman’s role, preparing your very own version of Glenfiddich 15 year old by combining different cask samples together. Each guest will be able to bottle a small sample of their own creation to keep.
They can only welcome a maximum of 8 guests on each tour and therefore they ask that you reserve places in advance to avoid disappointment.
Pioneers Tour
£95
AN IN-DEPTH TOUR FOR THE WHISKY ENTHUSIAST
After being welcomed by one of the experienced guides, you’ll experience the wealth of craftsmanship and traditions that are still used at the distillery today. You’ll have the chance to learn how they balance these with the innovation that has allowed them to create a range of exceptional whiskies.
YOUR OWN EXCLUSIVE WHISKY
During the course of your tour, you’ll visit a number of warehouses and discover warehouse number 12, home to the Malt Master’s Selection. This range of 4 casks has been specially chosen by the sixth Malt Master, Brian Kinsman. Here, you will be invited to fill a 20cl bottle from the cask of your choice, which you will be able to take home, along with a beautiful commemorative book documenting your trip to the distillery.
You will conclude the experience with a tutored masterclass of a selection of five of the finest whiskies along with delicious canapés prepared by Addy Daggart, the head chef.
Review: Spirit of Innovation Tour (15:00 on 02/10/2019)
Price: £25
The tours at Glenfiddich can be booked online and I would encourage you to do so as the Glenfiddich is a popular place to tour. It is celebrating it's 50th year in 2019 as a tourist attraction.
I opted for the Spirit of Innovation tour. This starts at the same time as an explorer Tour with both tours watching the video at the same time. The video covers the history of Glenfiddich and thr family who still own the distillery today.
The Explorers then set off on their tour while we gathered outside for a chat with our guide, Lauren. They was only three on the tour I was on. The two tours starting at the same time does mean that our tour kept on tripping over the Explorer tour as they hadn't moved on from an area when we arrived; this was common throughout the tour.
he first area we saw was the milling; you only see the two Porteus mills through a small high up window. It is unusual for a distillery to have more than one mill and, despite having been to Glenfiddich twice before, I don;t recall having seen them before. They also have two mash tuns side by side, which we saw while Lauren was explaining the mashing process.
You then move onto the rooms containing the wash backs of which there are many (there has to be as Glenfiddich is one of the three largest distilleries on Speyside). We had the opportunity to look inside the wash backs through wijdows in the top; they don't have them open like a lot of distilleries.
And finally we went to one of the still houses; this was one area where the tour before seemed most disruptive as they were inside the still house while they were inside. Lauren explained the distilling proces while we were outside and unable to see the stills. I spoke to her afterwards and it turned out this is where they always explain the distillation as the noise and heat inside can, especially in summer, become very oppressive.
After the still house we visited Warehouse 1 where, again, the tour before us were there and we had to wait a couple of minutes for them to move onto the other end of the warehouse; which meant we had Lauren talking to us and in the background the other tour guide. In the warehouse we watched a short video on the cooperage and barrels; the cooperage is the one I'd seen that morning at the The Balvenie and got to nose three different barrles to compare the odour. Two were ex-bourbon and one ex-sherry.
After this we moved onto Warehouse 8, which is where the major difference between this and the explorer Tour start, to hear about the Solera system used for the 15 Year Old Glenfiddich Single Malt.
After Warehouse 8 we oved onto the bottling hall where all bottles of Glenfiddich are bottled on three bottling lines.
And finally, onto a tasting room where we got to sample five expressions of Glenfiddich:
- Glenfiddich 12 Year Old Whisky
- Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky Experimental Series IPA
- Glenfiddich 15 Year Old Scotch Whisky
- Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whisky Experimental Series Project XX
- Glenfiddich 21 Year Old Scotch Whisky
Photogrpahy was allowed everywhere except in the still house, although photos were allowed from the platform by the door, and the warehouses.
The tour was very good and seeing both the Solera system, unique to Glenfiddich, and bottling plant was good (only on Speyside has a bottling plant which I have seen previous years, but didn't see this year). Two things which would improve this tour are:
- Explain the distillation process in the still house; as mentioned earlier, Lauren did explain why they don't do this, but most (all?) other distilleries do.
- Stagger the Explorer and Spirit of Innovation tours so they start 10-15 minites apart and not at the same time.
History
The Glenfiddich Distillery was founded in 1886 by William Grant in Dufftown, Scotland, in the glen of the River Fiddich. The Glenfiddich single malt whisky first ran from the stills on Christmas Day, 1887.
In the 1920s, with prohibition in force in the USA, Glenfiddich was one of a very small number of distilleries to increase production. This put them in a strong position to meet the sudden rise in demand for fine aged whiskies that came with the repeal of prohibition.
In the 1950s, the Grant family built up an onsite infrastructure that included coppersmiths to maintain the copper stills, and a dedicated cooperage that is now one of the very few remaining in distilleries. In 1956 the Grant's brand launched the now-iconic triangular bottle, designed by Hans Schleger.
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 and a visitors' centre. In this period they also took the decision to begin marketing single malt as a premium brand in its own right, effectively creating the modern single malt whisky category.
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 35% of single malt sales.
Glenfiddich is currently managed by the fifth generation of William Grant's descendants.
In September 2014, William Grant & Sons agreed to acquire Drambuie for an undisclosed price rumoured to be in the region of £100 million.
