Glenfiddich Explorers

By Ian

Stuart Watts, Manager of Glenfiddich has decided to open the doors of our Distillery each weekend over the winter period.

This is a departure from the usual reduction of seven to five days for the winter period, ( Mid October to Mid March )the decision will delight local businesses and tourists wishing to see the Distillery during winter weekend breaks.

Winter opening times are;  Monday to Saturday 09.30 to 4.30 pm and Sunday noon to 4.30pm.

 We have one of the best Distillery tours, the  shop and restaurant will also remain open.

Come and see us!!

By Ian

New Scotch Whisky Categories.

As of today 23^rd November 2009, there are five new whisky categories covering the whole of the Scotch Whisky Industry. (They will replace all of the current categories.)

They are Single Grain, Blended Grain, Single Malt, Blended Malt and Blended Scotch Whisky, ( a mixture of both malt and grain whiskies).

Within blended we used to have Deluxe Blend, a description given to blends 12 years old and over, this dissappears altogether but an age statement will probably remain on most of the older blends.

One other change to Scotch Whisky law is that all Malt Whisky must now be bottled in Scotland, this isn`t really a departure from what we had but the SWA felt it was an opportunity to ensure that from now on Malt could only be bottled in Scotland, an important change really considering the likely growth in this sector.

85% of Scotch Blended is bottled in Scotland and this is unlikely to change due to the impact it could have on jobs outside of Scotland.

 Ian Millar

23/11/09

By Ian

By Ian

Wow, it seems to get bigger every year or perhaps it was more to do with salaries being paid into respective accounts on the 25^th, the second busiest day of the festival.

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By Ian

At the beginning of august I visited Japan with whisky tastings in both Tokyo and Fukuoka in the south.

The Japanese enjoy Malt Whisky and of course they have also produced it in large quantities for some time. They have a growing success outside of Japan with whiskies such as Yamazaki and Hibiki, both owned by Suntory, one of the biggest spirit and beer producers in Japan.

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By Ian

I’ve been using the word ‘dram’ since I started drinking whisky, on the basis that in Scotland we use it to describe a large measure of whisky. It seems reasonable?? READ MORE »

By Ian

On Tuesday 28th July, I was honoured to be a part of the Glenfiddich 50 Year Old launch.

David Stewart, Brian Kinsman and I enjoying a dram of the Glenfiddich 50 Year Old

The exclusive event took place at The Glenfiddich Distillery with approximately 54 guests, including members of the press from all over the world.

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By Ludo

Travelling the world for Glenfiddich has been a privilege. I have met fascinating people, made many friends, discovered varied cultures and tasted the most exclusive Glenfiddich single malts (those of you who were fortunate enough to join us last week for our 50-year-old launch will now exactly what I mean!). Founding and managing this blog has also been greatly enjoyable but after nine years working for Glenfiddich, it is time for me to discover new horizons.

I won’t of course be leaving William Grant & Sons, the family-owned company behind Glenfiddich. I virtually feel a part of the family now and our company has a long tradition of promoting people internally.

As of tomorrow, I will become the first Global Ambassador for Grant’s blended whisky. READ MORE »

By Ludo

Maturing whisky for a minimum of 12 years does create a logistical nightmare, especially when we insist that all of it should be matured in the valley of the river Fiddich.

William Grant and his children finished building their first warehouse in 1887. I doubt they could have foreseen that the fifth generation of their family would be building warehouse number 46.

Glenfiddich Duty Free Warehouse 46, as it will officially be called, is not actually our 46^th but our 44^th warehouse – a couple of them were converted over the years (nothing is ever simple).

For those of you who know our Glen well, WH46, as it will informally be called, is located alongside warehouses 43, 44 and 45, close to the river Fiddich.

You may be interested to know how many casks such a warehouse can accommodate. The answer is not straight forward as it all depends on the type of cask we decide to leave there, but it’s probably a figure of around 50,000 oak casks!

And before you get any ideas, all our warehouses are double locked. This is a legal requirement which we are very happy about!

Regards,

Ludo