Glenfiddich Grand Cru 23 Year Old Limited Edition

Glenfiddich

One of Scotland’s most iconic single malt brands, Glenfiddich was originally founded in 1886 by William Grant. Still run by the descendants of William Grant, the company also built other signature distilleries like Balvenie  and more recently the Tullamore distillery in Ireland. Originally launching their own blended whisky in 1898, William Grant & Sons developed strong relations with overseas spirits merchants, creating a huge export business for their whisky. Throughout the 1920s, when many distilleries and blenders closed due to American prohibition, Glenfiddich continued to produce whisky in the hope of an eventual repeal. This strategy massively paid off, with the spirit quickly exported in bulk to the USA shortly after the repeal of prohibition. The distillery would make true history in 1961 when it launched “Glenfiddich straight malt”, the first whisky to be marketed and presented as a single malt. In 1964 the iconic green glass three-cornered bottle design was launched, a design that is still drawn on today.  
 
In 1969 Scotland’s first ever distillery visitor centre was opened at Glenfiddich and in 1974 a huge new expansion took place, seeing 16 new stills installed. The positioning of Glenfiddich as a single malt helped the brand to survive the 1980s as whisky was heavily oversupplied and in low demand, creating a unique point of difference for the brand. In 2001 the distillery released the oldest whisky ever bottled at the time, a cask from 1937 that had been matured for 64 years, with 10 different warehouse managers taking care of its ageing! In 2002 the 21 year old Gran Reserva, a rum finished expression, was released and has been a staple of their core range for more than 20 years now. Ever impressive are Glenfiddich’s aged stocks that in 2009 a 50 year old expression was launched! Most recently the distillery has experimented with limited release special cask offerings including cognac, sherry and grand cru finished whiskies. As of 2021 Glenfiddich is capable of producing 21 million litres of alcohol, making it one of Scotland’s biggest malt whisky distilleries.