The history of the Glen Grant Distillery starts all the way back in 1820 when the men of the Grant Clan raided nearby Elgin to free their chief and his family. The ‘Raid on Elgin’ is the last Scottish revolt in history. The leader of this revolt, James Grant, and his brother John, ran an unlicensed and illegal distillery for nearly 20 years when in 1840 they decided to embark on making their dream of creating a world famous single malt whisky into reality by applying for a license.
The site of the Glen Grant Distillery, in Speyside in the Scottish Highlands, was deemed ideal to make this happen, with the nearby port of Garmouth, fields of barley surrounding it, and the River Spey to the south.After the death of both the Grant brothers in 1872, James Grant’s son, also called James, inherited the distillery and took over it’s running. Known as a bit of a maverick, he went by the nickname of ‘The Major’ and was fascinated by new ideas - he was also not afraid to put them into practice. He introduced electric lighting to the distillery, as well as slender tall stills and purifiers which gave the Glen Grant whisky it’s famous malty flavour and clear colour which it still has today. After The Major’s death in 1932, his grandson Douglas MacKessack took over the running of the now world famous distillery. A merger in 1972 saw the creation of The Glenlivet Distilleries with the Grant family still holding a significant interest. The Glen Grant whisky, still one of the largest selling single malt whisky, was later being purchased by Campari in 2006.
