Grant's Disitllery

OURDISTILLERY

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Our Distillery

Built in 1963, Girvan Distillery was an amazing feat at the time, taking just 9 months to build. Charles Gordon and four hundred locals worked around the clock to make sure one of the most advanced distilleries in the world was ready in time for the first spirit to be bottled on Christmas Day, as was the case at our sister distillery, Glenfiddich in 1887. In 1990, we installed our first patent still, enabling our unique method of making grain whisky. Today, our Girvan grain whisky is seen as one of the best in the world and is at the heart of every single bottle of Grant’s.

MEET OUR LATEST TEAM MEMBERROCCO THE DOG

Rocco the dog

Rocco is a one year old working cocker spaniel whose job is to sniff out the quality of the casks at the cooperage, where the wooden barrels are made by our highly skilled craftsmen who use traditional techniques to prepare them to protect and help perfect our whisky for years to come.

As wood is a natural material, and the distilling of whisky is an organic process, Rocco has a really important job to make sure that everything is perfect as the whisky ages in the oak casks. His sense of smell is 40 times stronger than a human’s and he's been specially selected and trained to pick up the scent of anything that’s not quite right as the whisky matures. When he’s done checking out the quality of the wood in the cooperage, Rocco noses around the rest of the distillery to make sure that everything is going to plan.

ROCCO'SFIRST DAY

Rooco's First Day

MEET THECRAFTSMEN

Meet the craftsmen

THE MAKER

Expertly distils our precious spirit. Threes have always been important to Grant’s be it the three different types of wood our whisky is matured in, to the three key ingredients in our Whisky, Scottish water, Air and Barley.

Arguably one of most importance is our three sided bottle. In 1957 Hans Schleger created the now distinctive Grant’s triangular bottle, this iconic bottle not only helps to showcase the quality and colour of Grant’s whisky but it also allowed for efficient stacking and packing for exporting around the world.

The muscle

THE MUSCLE

Sculpts our casks by hand.

Six generations after our founding father William Grant first opened the doors to his distillery in 1887 we’re officially Scotland’s oldest continuously family-run blended whisky makers.

Today, the tradition lives on and we continue to make our whisky the same way we always did

The master

THE MASTER

Skilfully blends whiskies with knowledge shared over six generations.

As the 3rd largest Scotch brand globally, we believe it’s our duty to make whisky that can be enjoyed by everybody, not just the privileged few. Every second, 55 drams of our precious liquid is drunk around the world.

The future outlook for blended Scotch is exciting, with more people than ever being introduced to the category.

OURSTORY

Our story

Six generations of Grants have stood together through thick and thin to hold the title of Scotland’s oldest continuously family-run, blended whisky makers. But we couldn’t have done it without a little help along the way.

William grant

WILLIAM GRANT

In William Grant’s journey from cow herder to founding father of one of the world’s most loved Scotch brands, it’s fair to say he had a little help along the way.

It was in 1887 when William Grant opened his first distillery in Scotland with the help of his seven sons and two daughters.

William Grant knew a thing or two about a good workforce. George Grant was his maltman, Charlie Grant operated the tuns, Alec Grant was his still-man, and his youngest daughter Meta? Well, the seven year old brought the boys lunch. Now that's a family business.

SHARING WITH THE WORLD

William Grant’s son-in-law, Charles Gordon, became the company’s first salesman. Knocking on doors, trying to make his first sale. He called at 180 establishments before finding his first customer. Which may have had something to do with the fact that the 181st was the first place he gave a sample to.

This job saw him sailing to the Far East, which took months at a time. Luckily he never had to take much home again. So the return leg was always a little speedier.

Prohibition

PROHIBITION

During prohibition most distillery owners shut their doors, but not William Grant. He went against the grain and actually increased production. Guess he knew the world wouldn’t be able to resist great whisky forever.

TODAY

It just goes to show that when the right people stand together, great things happen.

Six generations later, we’re still family owned. From the highly skilled Coopers who tend our casks to the distillers and maturation experts – Grant’s Whisky stays true to William Grant’s original, closely guarded recipe.