Qualla: Glen Grant distillery

Glen Grant distillery: Introduction

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit S8z11, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Grant brothers had been illegal distillers and smugglers. By 1840 they decided they would rather hold a license than dodge excise officers across the hills. John and James Grant set up Glen Grant in Rothes, a small Speyside town where the River Spey, the port of Garmouth nearby on the coast, and the barley-growing plains gave them every raw ingredient that whisky-making required. They built a distillery that would become, nearly two centuries later, the biggest-selling single malt Scotch in Italy. The route from smuggler's still to Campari boardroom passed through one of the most distinctive figures in 19th-century Scotch whisky — and through a Victorian garden that you can still walk in.

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Image: S8z11 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Glen Grant distillery: From Illegal Stills to Legal Founders

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sandy Gemmill, CC BY-SA 2.0. John and James Grant grew up in the era when most Highland whisky was illicit. The 1823 Excise Act had begun to change the economics — making it possible, for the first time, to distill legally at a profit if you accepted regulation and paid duty. By 1840 the brothers had built t...

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Image: Sandy Gemmill | CC BY-SA 2.0

Glen Grant distillery: The Major Inherits

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Alpin Stewart, CC BY-SA 2.0. James Grant, known throughout Speyside as the Major, was born in 1847 and inherited Glen Grant from his uncle John. He took the title Glengrant along with the business, and over the late 19th century turned the distillery into something more ambitious than a working still. The Ma...

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Image: Alpin Stewart | CC BY-SA 2.0

Glen Grant distillery: An Italian Single Malt

Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dingerwarren, CC BY-SA 4.0. The 20th century saw Glen Grant pass through several owners, including The Glenlivet Distillers and Seagram. Chivas Brothers, best known for the blended Chivas Regal, held it before December 2005, when the Italian company Campari Group acquired it. The choice made commercial sens...

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Image: Dingerwarren | CC BY-SA 4.0