A Slice of Speyside
6 October 2014
By Joel Harrison
As a whisky writer, I spend a large chunk of my time visiting Scotland and her various distilleries, but there is one area that I never tire of visiting: Speyside.
From Branch to Barrel: The Cooperage
29 September 2014
By Joel Harrison
Having seen a giant American white oak tree hand picked by a local lumberjack and delivered to a stave mill to be carefully sawn up, I stayed on the journey of this new-wood to see these newly harvest planks taken directly to one of the most important places in the whole of the whisky making process: the cooperage.
The Journey Begins
23 September 2014
By Joel Harrison
America is a land of dreams, a place where you can ignite an idea with a mixture of passion and hard work. It is a place that incubates business, art, creative concepts and provides an environment where success can be fast and be global. It is a country where slow growth isn't thought about, where achievement is expected at break-neck speed.
Life as a Glenfiddich family member
29 August 2014
Glenfiddich has been a family business since William Grant laid the very first stones on the site of our distillery with the help of his seven sons and two daughters back in 1886. To this day, William’s descendants continue to own and manage our distillery, looking after our whisky and leading the way for future generations to come.
Following in William’s footsteps is fifth generation Grant family member Kirsten Grant Meikle, who took some time to talk to us about what family means to her and, of course, the difference it makes to the way we produce our award winning single malt.
A history of aging
20 August 2014
By Mitch Bechard, Western US Brand Ambassador
When talking about the characteristics of a scotch whisky it is now believed that around 60 - 80% of these come from the maturation process, but where did this tradition and lengthy process of aging scotch come from? The first written record of whisky making in Scotland dates back to 1494, however Scots were making it long before that. Originally, Scottish whiskies would have been drunk as new make spirit or ‘cleric’ straight from the still. This is because it was either illegal or the farmers making it at the time wanted to drink it instantly, but most probably a combination of both these factors.
