Early Years
At William Grant & Sons Ltd, for five generations an independent family distiller, we are as passionate today about making Scotch Whisky as we were when we began. This passion, combined with the skills of our craftsmen and independent family spirit, is still at the heart of our blends. The story of our family, and of our whisky making, goes back a long way.
The history of the Clan Grant can be traced back to the 14th century when they migrated to Speyside – now the centre of the Scotch Whisky world – where they had been given land as reward for services to the king. Three brothers - Alexander, William and Daniel - fought in the 1745 rebellion of Jacobites against Hanoverian rule. They survived the Battle of Culloden but were then forced to flee and go into hiding. Importantly for us, Alexander Grant was hidden in Banffshire by one of the Grant clan chiefs. It was his great-grandson called William, born in Dufftown on 19th December 1839, who was the founder of the company.
William Grant had a challenging start to life. He was put to work at the age of seven, herding the family cattle in the hills. If it wasn’t for the influence of his remarkable schoolteacher John MacPherson, William may well have remained a simple herder or farmer, but his excellent schooling proved a stepping-stone on to greater things.
Following time as an apprentice shoemaker and limeworks employee, in 1866 William Grant became a bookkeeper at a local distillery. He showed great talent for the whisky production process and soon became manager of the distillery.
For the twenty years he worked at the Mortlach distillery, William had a dream of building his own distillery, and making the ‘best dram’ in the business (‘dram’ is the traditional word for a measure of whisky). In 1886 his dream became a reality and William and his wife Elizabeth, along with their nine children – a ready-made work force, and sufficient raw material to begin a family business – brought together land, materials and machines, and brought the Glenfiddich distillery to life. The first spirit ran from the stills on Christmas Day in 1887.
