William Grant & Sons

hideThis article has multiple issues. Please help or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (March 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This article may have been created or edited in return for undisclosed payments, a violation of Wikipedia's terms of use. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. (July 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

William Grant & Sons

Industry	Alcohol industry
Founded	1887; 134 years ago (1887)
Founder	William Grant
Headquarters	Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, UK
Products	Alcoholic drinks
Website	williamgrant.com

William Grant & Sons Ltd is an independent, family-owned Scottish company that distills Scotch whisky and other selected categories of spirits. It was established in 1887^[1] by William Grant, and is run by Grant's descendants as of 2018.^[2] It is the largest of the handful of Scotch whisky distillers remaining in family ownership.^[3]

The company is the third largest producer of Scotch whisky (8% market share), shipping about 7.6 million cases per year, with brands including Glenfiddich and Balvenie.^[4][5] The first and second largest, respectively, are Diageo (34.4%), and Pernod Ricard.^[6][7] The company is registered at The Glenfiddich distillery in Dufftown.^[8] The main operational headquarters are located at Strathclyde Business Park, North Lanarkshire. Sales and marketing headquarters are in Richmond, London. The company is a member of the Scotch Whisky Association.^[9][3]

The master blender of Grant's is Brian Kinsman,^[10][11] who succeeded David Stewart who had been in his post for 47 years, the longest serving master blender with one distiller in the industry.^{[12][citation needed]}

In July 2014 it was reported that Grant's donated "in the region of £100,000" to the unionist campaign group Better Together, with the company being "said to have also donated smaller sums of money to other groups who are campaigning for a 'No' vote," ahead of the Scottish independence referendum.^[13]

William Grant & Sons has won the Queen's Award to Industry for Outstanding Export Achievement.^{[citation needed]}

History[]

William Grant was born in Dufftown in 1839. In 1886, Grant and his nine children started construction of Glenfiddich Distillery.^{[citation needed]} On Christmas Day, 1887, the distillery was operational. In 1892, William Grant & Sons built a second neighbouring distillery called Balvenie.^{[citation needed]} In 1898, the two distilleries started blending their whiskies.^{[citation needed]} William Grant & Sons pioneered single malt Scotch whisky as, until Glenfiddich, only blended brands were common.^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, the Grant entered into a joint venture with the Robertson family (see The Edrington Group) creating a new company, Highland Distillers.^{[citation needed]} In May 2010 the group bought four brands from C&C Group, including Tullamore D.E.W., for €300m.^{[citation needed]} In September 2010 they sold the three minor brands (Irish Mist, Carolans, Frangelico) to Gruppo Campari for 129m euro, so in effect Grants paid €171m for the Tullamore D.E.W. brand and its production facilities.^{[citation needed]} The current chairman of William Grant & Sons is Glenn Gordon (since 2012).^{[citation needed]} The Gordons are direct descendants of William Grant.^{[citation needed]}

In March 2020, the company made the decision to switch production at three of its distilleries to create approximately five million litres of ethanol over an eight week period to produce hand sanitiser during the Covid-19 pandemic.^[14]

In that same month, William Grant & Sons closed all of its visitor centres indefinitely due to the same pandemic.^[15] In June 2020, the company made the decision to reopen some of its visitor centres with increased hygiene measures.^[16]

Distilleries[]

Distilleries owned by William Grant & Sons:

• Glenfiddich Distillery^[4][5]
• Balvenie Distillery^[4][5]
• Girvan Grain Distillery^[17]
• Kininvie Distillery^[18]
• Ailsa Bay Distillery^[19]
• Tullamore Distillery (Ireland)^[17]
• is a former whisky distillery in Dufftown, closing operations in 1985. William Grant & Sons bought the distillery in 1990, for the warehouses, to increase warehousing capacity for Glenfiddich. The Convalmore distillery produced whisky for other brands. The name Convalmore however is used for selected whiskies, although the distillery never produced a whisky under their own name. The brandname is owned by Diageo.^{[citation needed]}

Brands[]

The company's leading single malt Scotch brand is Glenfiddich, the best-selling single malt Scotch in the world as of 2016.^[20] Roughly 1.22 million cases of Glenfiddich were sold in 2017. Another Grant single malt Scotch whisky also made the top ten list of best-selling Scotch whiskies in 2017: The Balvenie (#6).^[21][22] The company's leading blended whisky, Grant's Family Reserve, was the number three best seller in this category, forcing competitor Chivas Regal into fourth place.^[23] Another very popular blended whisky is Monkey Shoulder.^[24]

William Grant & Sons brands include:

• Scotch whisky: , Glenfiddich, Grant's, The Balvenie, Kininvie, , , , House of Hazelwood,
• Irish whiskey: Tullamore D.E.W.
• Gin: Hendrick's
• Vodka: Reyka
• Rum: Sailor Jerry, , , , Flor de Caña (US Import)
• Canadian whisky: Gibson’s Finest
• Mixed drinks: Taboo
• Mezcal:
• Tequila: Milagro
• Liqueur: Drambuie, , Ancho Reyes, Ancho Reyes Verde
• Brandy: Three Barrels,
• Other: Art In the Age Craft Spirits

Rare whiskies[]

William Grant & Sons produces a number of , most of which are described in the articles on Glenfiddich, Grant's and Balvenie. However, their rare whiskies also include:

• (from casks filled in 1964)
• (from Ladyburn distillery, closed in 1975)
• (a one-off by Glenfiddich produced as a blend of all the whisky—between three and 50 years in age—recovered after a heavy snow destroyed a warehouse where the whisky was being aged)

Other rare whiskies have been bottled as private vintages for Concorde, Queen Mary 2 and the .

Highland Distillers brands[]

William Grant & Sons and the Edrington Group took Highland Distillers private in 1999^[25] forming the 1887 Company, in which William Grant and Sons hold a 30% stake.

Typical products owned by Highland Distillers at that time:

• The Famous Grouse, brandname now owned by Edrington
• The Macallan, brandname now owned by Edrington
• Highland Park, brandname now owned by Edrington
• Black Bottle, this brand was sold subsequently to Burn Stewart Distillers in 2004
• , brandname owned by Edrington

Other brands[]

• Virgin Vodka, a now defunct brand which Grant's co-developed with Richard Branson's Virgin Group.

References[]

External links[]

• William Grant & Sons official website.