Glenfiddich

Glenfiddich is a Speyside single malt Scotch whisky distillery in the Scottish burgh of Dufftown, Moray. It belongs to William Grant & Sons. Its name comes from the Scottish Gaelic *Gleann Fhiodhaich*, meaning "valley of the deer," which is why a stag appears on its logo.

William Grant founded the distillery in 1886 in the glen of the River Fiddich, and the first Glenfiddich single malt flowed from the stills on Christmas Day 1887. During US Prohibition in the 1920s, the distillery was one of the very few to boost production, which put it in a strong position when demand for aged whiskies surged after Prohibition ended. In the 1950s, the Grant family built on-site infrastructure including coppersmiths to maintain the stills and a dedicated cooperage—now one of the few left in distilleries. The now-familiar triangular bottle, designed by Hans Schleger, was launched for the Grant's brand in 1956.

Tough times in the 1960s and 1970s saw many small independent distillers bought out or shut down. To survive, William Grant & Sons expanded production, ran advertising campaigns, and opened a visitors' centre. Crucially, they began marketing single malt as a premium brand in its own right, creating the modern single malt whisky category when they introduced Glenfiddich to the United States and other foreign markets in 1963. The company was also among the first to package bottles in tubes and gift tins, and it recognised the importance of the duty-free market. This strategy worked: Glenfiddich became the world's best-selling single malt, sold in 180 countries and accounting for about 35% of all single malt sales. The distillery is now run by the fifth generation of William Grant's descendants.

In September 2014, William Grant & Sons bought Drambuie for an undisclosed sum rumoured to be around £100 million. In 2015, Glenfiddich hired ad agency Gravity Thinking for a YouTube campaign called *The Finishing Touch*, promoting the relaunch of its 21-year-old single malt aged in Caribbean rum casks. The video used a levitron to suspend a single drop of whisky in mid-air, featured Puerto Rican singer Calma Carmona performing Franz Ferdinand's "Love Illumination" with the Scottish Opera orchestra, and garnered over 1.7 million YouTube hits. Since 2002, Glenfiddich has run an Artists in Residence programme with a total budget of £130,000, hosting artists at the distillery each year—eight in 2019 and six in 2021. In 2021, the distillery began converting its trucks to run on biogas made from its own waste products.

Glenfiddich is a single malt Scotch whisky, meaning it is distilled at one distillery using pot stills from a mash of malted barley. On site there are 43 distinctively shaped "swan neck" copper pot stills, smaller than those at most other major distilleries. All are handmade, and a team of craftsmen and coppersmiths maintains them. The stills have a total capacity of about 21 million litres of spirit. The water comes from the nearby Robbie Dhu springs. The whisky is matured in various casks: rum casks from the Caribbean, bourbon barrels from America, and sherry butts from Jerez de la Frontera in Spain. After maturation, the whisky is cut with pure Robbie Dhu spring water. The distillery has its own bottling hall, plus a large bottling plant in Bellshill. It is part of Scotland's Malt Whisky Trail, which includes seven working Speyside distilleries, the historic Dallas Dhu museum, and the Speyside Cooperage.

The core range includes a 12-year-old, 15-year-old, 18-year-old, and 21-year-old. Until 2011, Glenfiddich also produced a malt whisky liqueur at 40% alcohol by volume, sold in 500 ml bottles.

Glenfiddich whiskies have done well at international spirits competitions. The 12, 15, 18, and 21-year-old expressions have all earned strong ratings at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition and from the Beverage Testing Institute. The 15-year-old has performed best, winning three double-gold medals in four years at the 2007–2010 San Francisco competitions and scoring 91 from the Beverage Testing Institute.

In 1970, Glenfiddich launched the Glenfiddich Food and Drink Awards to honour distinguished UK writing and broadcasting on food and drink. These were discontinued in 2008 while the company reviewed their strategy and potential in key markets outside the UK. In 1998, the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards began, given annually to notable Scottish people in nine categories—art, business, environment, food, music, screen, sport, writing, and others—sponsored with *The Scotsman* newspaper.