The Glenlivet distillery is a

distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

near

Ballindalloch Ballindalloch ( gd, Baile na Dalach) is a small village on the River Spey in Scotland. It is known for its Scotch whisky, whisky distilleries and for Ballindalloch Castle. In Ballindalloch itself, there are two distilleries, Cragganmore distille ...

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

that produces single malt

Scotch whisky Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distil ...

. It is the oldest legal distillery in the parish of Glenlivet, and the production place of the

Scottish whisky Scotch whisky (; sco, Scots whisky/whiskie, whusk(e)y; often simply called whisky or Scotch) is malt whisky or grain whisky (or a blend of the two), made in Scotland. All Scotch whisky was originally made from malted barley. Commercial distil ...

of the same name. It was founded in 1824 and has operated almost continuously since. The distillery remained open throughout the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

and its only closure came during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The Glenlivet distillery has grown in the post-war period to become one of the biggest single malt distilleries. The Glenlivet brand is the biggest selling single malt whisky in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the second biggest selling single malt brand globally. Today, the distillery is owned by the French alcoholic beverages company

Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod'' or ''Ricard''). The world’s second-largest wine and spirits seller, it also produ ...

, which also oversees the distillery's production of 5,900,000 proof litres per annum. The majority of this – enough for 6 million bottles – is sold as ''The Glenlivet'' single malt, with the remainder being used in Pernod Ricard's

blended whisky A blended whiskey (or blended whisky) is the product of blending different types of whiskeys and sometimes also neutral grain spirits, colorings, and flavorings. It is generally the product of mixing one or more higher-quality straight or single ...

brands.

Production

The distillery draws water from Josie's Well and other springs a short distance from the distillery. The malt comes from Crisp

Maltings A malt house, malt barn, or maltings, is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer, whisky and in certain food ...

Portgordon Portgordon, or sometimes Port Gordon, ( gd, Port Ghòrdain) is a village in Moray, Scotland, south-west of Buckie. It was established in 1797 by Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon as a fishing village. It had a population of 844 at the time ...

. Glenlivet's stills are lantern shaped with long, narrow necks, all of which helps to produce a light-tasting spirit. The distillery has 7 wash stills each with a capacity of 15,000 litres and 7 spirit stills with a capacity of 10,000 litres. The spirit is then matured in oak casks. Glenlivet is categorised as a Speyside distillery. As of 2016, The Glenlivet range consists of 14 whiskies. The main product range from the distillery is ''The Glenlivet'' range of single malt scotch whisky, but whisky from the distillery is also used in the production of Pernod Ricard's other brands, including ''

Chivas Regal Chivas Regal () is a blended Scotch whisky manufactured by Chivas Brothers, which is part of Pernod Ricard. It was founded in 1786, with its home being in the Strathisla distillery at Keith, Moray in Speyside, Scotland, and is the oldest contin ...

'' and '' Royal Salute'' whisky brands. Bottling of The Glenlivet took place at a Chivas Brothers bottling plant at Newbridge just outside

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, but that plant was sold at the end of 2009 with bottling to be transferred to other Chivas Brothers plants. In 2008, The Glenlivet announced expansion plans for the distillery to keep up with increased demand. This includes the installation of a new

mash tun In brewing and distilling, mashing is the process of combining a mix of ground grains – typically malted barley with supplementary grains such as corn, sorghum, rye, or wheat – known as the "grain bill" with water and then heating the ...

, new stills and new washbacks. The expansion cost the equivalent of US $15 million and significantly increased capacity.

History

Illicit distilleries were commonplace throughout the Speyside area from 1700s 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 Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, KT (18 June 1743 – 17 June 1827), styled Marquess of Huntly until 1752, was a Scottish nobleman, described by Kaimes as the "greatest subject in Britain", and was also known as the Cock o' the North, the tr ...

, was allegedly instrumental in the passing of this legislation. Although there is no historical record of his involvement in the issue, his

tenant Tenant may refer to: Real estate *Tenant, the holder of a leasehold estate in real estate *Tenant-in-chief, in feudal land law *Tenement (law), the holder of a legal interest in real estate *Tenant farmer *Anchor tenant, one of the larger stores ...

, George Smith, who was operating an illicit distillery on his Upper Drummin farm at the time, became the first person in Scotland to apply for and receive a license to legally produce spirit. George Smith's decision 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 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 Minmore 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

hyphen The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. ''Son-in-law'' is an example of a hyphenated word. The hyphen is sometimes confused with dashes (figure d ...

ate 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

, an event which affected many other distilleries; it wasn't until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

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 dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...

s). 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 Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

, 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 Glen Grant is a distillery founded in 1840 in Rothes, Speyside, that produces single malt Scotch whisky. Previously owned by ''Chivas Brothers Ltd'', best known for their Chivas Regal blended scotch whisky, Glen Grant was purchased by the It ...

(''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 The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the lar ...

in 1977. Seagram's alcohol production interests were acquired by

and

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

during 2000, with ownership of Glenlivet Distillers passing to Pernod Ricard. While Glen Grant Distillery was sold to

Campari Group Davide Campari-Milano N.V., trading as Campari Group, is an Italian company active since 1860 in the branded beverage industry. It produces spirits, wines, and non-alcoholic apéritifs. From its signature product, Campari, its portfolio has been ...

in 2005 Pernod Ricard kept control over the Glenlivet and Aberlour single malt whisky brands. The Glenlivet is the best selling malt whisky in the

, 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. The Malt Whisky Trail Map

Today, the distillery is a major stop on the

Scotland's Malt Whisky Trail Eight malt whisky distilleries and a cooperage form the Malt Whisky Trail in Scotland's Speyside. Seven of the eight distilleries are in production and operational, whilst the Dallas Dhu distillery is a historic distillery. The Malt Whisky Trail ...

of seven working

Speyside single malt Speyside single malts are single malt Scotch whiskies, distilled in Strathspey, the area around the River Spey in Moray and Badenoch and Strathspey, in northeastern Scotland. The two best-selling single malt whiskies in the world, The Glenlive ...

distilleries in the

Strathspey, Scotland Strathspey ( gd, Srath Spè, ) is the region around the strath of the River Spey, Scotland, split between the Moray council area and the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area of Highland. The term Strathspey usually refers to the upper part o ...

region. During the Glenlivet tour (after paying a fee), visitors can sample three of the products.

Extension

A new extension with an additional mashtun, eight washbacks and 6 stills was opened by the Prince of Wales on 5 June 2010. The capacity of the distillery has been increased by 75%

Products

Core Range * ''The Glenlivet Founder's Reserve'' * ''The Glenlivet 12 Year Old'' * ''The Glenlivet 14 Year Old'' * ''The Glenlivet 15 Year Old French Oak Reserve'' * ''The Glenlivet Nàdurra 16 Year Old'' * ''The Glenlivet 18 Year Old'' * ''The Glenlivet Archive 21 Year Old'' * ''The Glenlivet XXV 25 Year Old'' Limited Releases - Cellar Collection * ''The Glenlivet Cellar Collection 1972 Cask Strength'' * ''The Glenlivet Cellar Collection 1959 Cask Strength'' * ''The Glenlivet Cellar Collection 1964 Cask Strength'' * ''The Glenlivet Cellar Collection 1967'' * ''The Glenlivet Cellar Collection French Oak Finish 1983'' * ''The Glenlivet Cellar Collection American Oak Finish 30 Year Old'' Travel Retail These bottlings are only available through the travel retail market, such as

airports An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

and

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

. * ''The Glenlivet 12 Year Old First Fill'' * ''The Glenlivet 15 Year Old'' Other products * ''Glenlivet 70yo 1940/2010 (45.9%, Gordon & MacPhail, Generations, sherry butt, C#339, 100 Bts.)'' * ''Glenlivet Alpha'' * ''Glenlivet Cipher''

Awards and reviews

Glenlivet's offerings have frequently been reviewed at

spirit ratings With a growing number of offerings, such as those produced by an increasing number of microdistilleries, various mechanisms have arisen to provide reviews and opinions of individual varieties of spirits. These events generally use expert panels ...

competitions, generally garnering relatively high praise. The Glenlivet 18yr is perhaps the most highly decorated of the offerings, winning five double golds from the

San Francisco World Spirits Competition The San Francisco World Spirits Competition was founded in 2001 by Anthony Dias Blue as an off-shoot of the San Francisco International Wine Competition. It assesses hundreds of entrants annually (1,407 in 2013 from 63 countries) with tastings inv ...

between 2005 and 2012 and yielding only slightly less impressive scores from the Beverage Testing Institute and Wine Enthusiast. The 18yr Nadurra earned a double gold medal at the 2010 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and a score of 94 (out of 100) in the same year from the Beverage Testing Institute. Other notable results include: * The Glenlivet 12yr Single Malt: Four silver medals and a gold between 2005 and 2010 at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. * The Glenlivet 15yr French Oak Reserve Single Malt: gold medal at the 2009 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. * The Glenlivet 16yr Nàdurra Single Malt: silver medal at the 2009 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. * The Glenlivet 21yr Single Malt: two double golds, one gold, and one silver medal from the San Francisco World Spirits Competition between 2007 and 2010 and scores of 94 and 93 from the Beverage Testing Institute between 2009 and 2010. * The Glenlivet XXV (25yr) Single Malt: silver medal at the 2009 San Francisco World Spirits Competition and a score of 95 from the Beverage Testing Institute in 2010.

References

External links

*
The Glenlivet Guardians - Official members only website

Details on how to visit Glenlivet distillery

Proof66.com Aggregator of Liquor Ratings and Reviews
{{DEFAULTSORT:Glenlivet 1824 establishments in Scotland Pernod Ricard brands Scottish malt whisky Distilleries in Scotland