Glenlivet Distillery

Glenlivet is locked in an endless battle with its main rival Glenfiddich for the top spot in the single malt world. Like many distilleries in Scotland, Glenlivet can trace its roots back to distilling taking place on the family farm. In 1817 George Smith inherited the farm distillery from his father, and acquired a licence to operate it in 1824, shortly after they became legally available. Glenlivet likes to say that they were the first licenced distillery in Scotland after the passage of the Excise Act of 1823.

Whisky bootlegging and illicit distilling was still a common practice even after this, with no small amount of violence involved. After going legal George Smith was known to carry two pistols to protect himself from people unhappy with Glenlivet’s growing popularity.

In 1858 Smith began construction of the current Glenlivet distillery at nearby Minnomore farm, which opened the following year. Two other distilleries he had been running at Drummin and Cairngorm were closed to put all emphasis here.

Glenlivet achieved such popularity that by the 1880s the name Glenlivet was simply a way of referring to Speyside whiskies, and many began adding it to their name. In 1880 John Gordon Smith trademarked the sole rights to the name The Glenlivet to protect their brand. He sued many other distillers for using their name before a legal settlement was reached.

The Grants continued to own the distillery for another century, merging with other distillery companies several times. Then, in 1978, Seagrams bought The Glenlivet Distiller Ltd, catapulting the popularity of their single malts in the US.

When Seagrams was divided between Diageo and Pernod Ricard in 2001, Pernod Ricard took over Chivas Brothers, which included Glenlivet in its portfolio. Since 2004 new expressions have been released almost every year to keep the brand fresh.

Glenlivet has the largest production capacity of any distillery in Scotland at 21 million litres a year. It achieves this with two mash tuns, each of which can hold 13.5 tons, and 32 washbacks which are half and half wooden and stainless steel. The 28 lantern shaped stills have to be split between three different rooms in order to accommodate them all.

The core Glenlivet range consists of the Founder’s Reserve, 12 year old, 15 year old, and the 18 year old. The Founder’s Reserve starts with a fresh nose of exotic fruits and vanilla. On the tongue more notes of fruit, toffee, and orange comes through before a long finish. The 12 year also has lots of fruit in the nose and palate, with pineapple coming through strongly. They’re joined by floral notes for a very fresh, drinkable whisky.

Three whiskies in the Explore range called Nàdurra are also available, all bottled at Cask Strength. These include the Nàdurra Oloros, the Nàdurra First Fill Selection, and the Nàdurra Peated Whisky Cask Finish. For people looking for maturity, the Winchester Collection has seen three different 50 year old vintages from 1964, 66, and 67 released.