From the misty plains of Scotland, comes a hallowed name in the world of Scotch. Adorned with its signature deer-head crest and iconic triangular bottles, there are some among you that already know what I'm talking about.
Glenfiddich, a whisky known for its smooth mellowness and excellent blends and expressions. Throughout the years, the name has garnered adoration and respect, and continues to do so even to this day.
Let's learn a little more about this distillery. Without further ado, here's ten things you should know about Glenfiddich,
1. Glenfiddich is one of the few single malt distilleries to remain entirely family owned.
In 1839, one William Grant was born in Dufftown, Scotland. It was a regular birth of a regular child, but little did anyone know, that this child would grow up and shake the very core of Scottish distilling history.
William Grant was fated to enter the world of whisky making. He started his working life as an apprentice shoemaker, but later secured a coveted position as a bookkeeper at the local Mortlach distillery. This was when his dream of his own distillery started taking root.
In 1886, William learned that the Cardow (Currently Cardhu) Distillery located near Dufftown was selling off some of its equipment. With his savings in hand and a dream in his heart, he walked the 12 miles to Cardhu to make an offer. He managed to purchase the equipment for a remarkably low price of 120 pounds.
In the summer of that very year, he began building his Distillery by hand. He had help of course, with an impressive platoon of seven sons and two daughters, but it was still a massive undertaking.
After a single year of work it was ready, and thus Glenfiddich (Gaelic for Valley of the Deer) was born. Two centuries later, and the name still garners respect throughout the world of Scotch, and the sixth generation of the Grant family continues to steer it with good hands.
2. Glenfiddich is Scotland's largest single malt distillery.
As mentioned, Grant built his distillery with only a £120 worth of equipment and his family's blood, sweat and tears. Decades on, Glenfiddich has expanded to a size that will no doubt make Grant cry with joy.
The distillery has expanded to a sprawling facility with a cooperage (cask-making facility), its own dedicated detachment of coppersmiths, 3 distillery buildings, many warehouses and even an in-house bottling line.
There are 46 pot stills spread across three stillhouses, inclusive of 16 large wash stills and 30 smaller stills for the first and second distillations respectively.
All this comes together to produce 21 million litres of whisky per year, hence Glenfiddich's nickname "The Giant".
3. Glenfiddich was the first Scotch to be actively marketed beyond Scotland.
Up until 1960, the world of whisky was dominated by blended expressions. Distilleries rarely marketed single malts, and if they did market them, the focus of said marketing was primarily on the Scottish market.
Of course, where others saw a status quo, Glenfiddich saw an opportunity. William Grant's great grandson Sandy Grant Gordon had started the first embers that would set Glenfiddich ablaze on the world stage.
Glenfiddich's Straight Malt.
In 1963, Glenfiddich launched their single malt internationally under the name "Straight Malt," a term unfamiliar to most consumers outside of Scotland. This bold move was an apparent strategy aimed at differentiating their product from blended whiskies, more so highlighting its single malt origin. By 1964, new marketing plans had been drawn up. It was an unprecedented move at the time. For the first time, a single malt whisky was being advertised in Britain and the Americas.
A decade on, and Glenfiddich has become one of the most popular single malts worldwide.
4. Glenfiddich has its own coppersmiths on site, as well as it's own cooperage.
The year is 1957 and Charles Gordon, William's great grand son, insists on having coppersmiths onsite at the Distillery. It's no understatement to say that copper pot stills are the heart and soul of single malt production. Glenfiddich understood this early on.
These coppersmiths meticulously maintain and repair their beloved stills, ensuring the continued production of their signature single malt with its consistent taste profile. Imagine these coppersmiths as the guardians of Glenfiddich's stills, toiling behind the scenes for generations and generations to come, all to ensure Glenfiddich never ceases production.
Soon after a dedicated team of coppersmiths are brought aboard, Glenfiddich turns its eyes onto its casks. Holding their casks in great regard, they were certainly right to do so. The casks in which whisky matures play a vital role in its final flavor.
5. Glenfliddich's light and grassy whiskies come from its special cutting process.
The small stills at Glenfiddich distillery. (Image Source: Distilled Sunshine)
Many might be familiar with Glendfiddich's characteristic mild, grassy profile. There's actually an open secret as to how this is possible. And no, it's not a tiny Scottish wizard chanting over the stills.
During Glenfiddich's distillation process, the distilled spirit collected from the heated stills is further separated by a valve into three “cuts”. Namely, the head cut (or foreshots), the middle cut (or heart), and the tail cut (or feints).
Distilled spirit emerges from these valves to be analysed by the stillman (Image Source: Glenfiddich Distillery)
As the spirit pours out of special valves, the stillman must take note to exclude the initial head cut and tail cut, which are deemed too bland. The subsequent middle cut is the only part collected and used to make whisky. However, the separated head cut and tail cuts are not thrown out. Rather, they are then recycled for re-distillation and the process continues.
Glenfiddich is also known for using uncommonly small stills. Considering the tendency for small stills to create heavy-bodied spirits, Glenfiddich is only able to create their sweet, light-tasting spirit by only using the lightest part of the distillate in their whiskies.
As such, the stillman must execute a very early and small middle cut, a process which saves only the lightest compounds and sweet esters to be matured into whisky.
6. Glenfiddich is one of the first distillery to use the Solera blending method for whisky.
Glenfiddich is well known for its in-depth blending expertise, an expertise that has resulted in continuous expressions that never cease to impress.
To achieve such expressions, whiskies are matured in different types of barrels before being masterfully blended and “married”. Kicking off the process, Glenfiddich’s Malt Master selects whiskies of sufficient maturity and pours them into a large Portugese oak “marrying” tun.
Within these tuns, whiskies of different seasoning (eg. bourbon or sherry) and different wood type (eg. European or virgin American oak) are blended together and “married” for about 9 months to create something entirely new.
Of course, generations of doing this has led to more than a few ways Glenfiddich blends its whisky. Some of these techniques remain proprietary and are not disclosed to the public, but we know at least one famous example of such an innovation: The Solera blending method. While wine drinkers might find this method familiar, Glenfiddich was the first to introduce it to the Scotch industry.
A simple schematic diagram of the Solera blending process
For the uninitiated, here's a quick rundown. Oak casks with whisky are grouped together according to the same average age. Whisky is drawn from the oldest casks at the bottom level, and bottled at intervals (e.g. every 1-3 years). However, these casks are never completely emptied.
While whisky is drawn from the oldest cask, younger whisky in upper levels are added to what remains in the lower levels in a hierarchical manner, creating a blend of whiskies of different ages. The result is a well-rounded product with depth of flavours and smoothness only possible with age.
The Glenfiddich 15 Years Old.
Glenfiddich employs this technique to create its award-winning Glenfiddich 15 Years Old expression. As half of the Solera vat’s contents are removed for bottling, the Malt Master replaces the Solera vat with a blend of whiskies: 70 percent ex-bourbon matured, 20 percent European oak and 10 percent virgin oak.
With this in mind, some expressions could even carry a small amount of very old whisky dating back several decades. How exciting!
7. In 2001, Glenfiddich released the oldest single malt whisky in the world.
Glenfiddich sure likes to be the first for a whole lot of things, and we're all for it. In 2001, they released what was (At the time) the oldest single malt Scotch whisky ever bottled from a single cask. Cask 847 was filled all the way back in 1937, where it was promptly secreted away, but not forgotten.
Over 64 years of painstaking maturation, evaporated spirit from the barrel, or angel's share, was no doubt pretty hefty. Fittingly, only 61 bottles of this historic expression remained after this incredibly slow and meticulous aging process.
8. Glenfiddich was one of the first distilleries to open its doors to visitors.
In the 1960s, the world of whisky was dominated by secretive production processes. Everyone was side-eying their competitors and fighting to make it through the decade. In an unprecedented move, Glenfiddich opened their doors to visitors in 1969, becoming one of the first distilleries in Scotland to embrace tourism. This decision marked a turning point, not just for Glenfiddich, but for the entire Scotch whisky landscape.
Prior to this, whisky distilleries were shrouded in a veil of mystery. The production process was rarely shared with outsiders, and the focus was on supplying whisky for blending rather than single malt appreciation.
Glenfiddich, however, saw the potential in educating the public about the craftsmanship and heritage behind their single malt whisky. They envisioned a future where consumers could connect with the brand on a deeper level, fostering a love for the spirit itself (And earning a pretty penny in the process wouldn't hurt).
Their gamble paid off in spades. Visitors flocked to the distillery, eager to learn about the single malt production process and taste Glenfiddich's unique whisky firsthand. The distillery became a pilgrimage site for whisky enthusiasts, and other distilleries began to take notice. Slowly but surely, the industry started to embrace tourism, opening their doors and sharing their stories.
Today, visitors from all over the world travel to Scotland to experience the rich history and intricate production methods behind the iconic spirit.
9. Glenfiddich was a pioneer in using NFTs to promote whisky.
Yep, you heard that right. NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). Not quite what you would think of when mentioning a distillery.
Another in a long line of Glenfiddich's firsts, the distillery partnered with BlockBar in October 2021. Blockbar was a platform that specialised in direct-to-consumer NFT sales for wines and spirits. This collaboration marked a significant moment, as it represented one of the first major uses of NFTs for whisky sales.
Correlating with this monumentous move, there was also a NFT Release: The Glenfiddich 1973. This included 15 bottles of Glenfiddich's rare 1973 Armagnac cask finish single malt, with each NFT functioning as a digital certificate of ownership for a physical bottle securely secreted away in one of Glenfiddich's warehouses.
10. A warehouse roof collapse inspired a limited edition release.
All things considered, Glenfiddich sure is a glass-half-full distillery. In 2010, a harsh winter brought heavy snowfall that caused some of their warehouse roofs to collapse. This dramatic event exposed precious casks of maturing whisky to the freezing elements (as low as -2.2°F!). For most distilleries, this would be a nightmare, to say the least. Imagine years of carefully aged barrels in ideal environments simply exposed to the elements. It's not unlike trying to cook the perfect steak, but someone dunks it in ice water halfway through.
The Glenfiddich team rose to the challenge. Their warehousemen worked tirelessly in the brutal conditions to salvage every single cask they could.
This dedication inspired the creation of the limited-edition Snow Phoenix single malt. Blended from the rescued casks, it stands as a testament to both the resilience of the Glenfiddich spirit and the ingenuity of Malt Master Brian Kinsman.
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Lok Bing Hong A budding journalist that loves experiencing new things and telling people's stories. I have 30 seconds of coherence a day. I do not decide when they come. They are not consecutive. |
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