Glen Grant 1980-1997 - 16 Year Old - Cadenheads Authentic Collection

Founded in 1840, Glen Grant is one of Speyside’s largest and greatest distilleries. The distillery became part of Seagram’s Chivas Brothers group in the 1970s, and was subsequently acquired in 2001 by Pernod Ricard, who sold Glen Grant to Campari in 2006. 

Glen Grant’s association with Italy goes back much further, however. Gordon & MacPhail were already licensed bottlers of Glen Grant in the 1960s when the two companies began a highly beneficial relationship with Italian hotelier and importer Armando Giovinetti which led directly to Glen Grant’s ongoing dominance of the Italian single malt market.

Glen Grant’s spirit is particularly well-suited to very long ageing in both bourbon and sherry casks, making it the perfect fit for Gordon & MacPhail who released a 72-year-old Glen Grant in 2020 and whose semi-official licensed bottlings of Glen Grant are legendary. Indie Glen Grants are abundant and are generally excellent value.

In 1842 George Duncan established a wine merchant and distillery agency business in Aberdeen. Duncan was joined in the early 1850s by his brother-in-law William Cadenhead, who took over the business after Duncan’s death in 1858, changing the company’s name to Wm. Cadenhead. When Cadenhead died in 1904 the company passed to his nephew Robert Duthie, who developed the spirits side of the business.

Duthie died suddenly in 1931, and employee Ann Oliver was put in charge of Cadenhead’s. Sadly, Oliver’s tenure ended in financial difficulty and on her retirement in 1972 the business was forced to sell its entire inventory. Cadenhead’s was acquired soon afterwards by J & A Mitchell, proprietors of Springbank distillery, who relocated the business to Campbeltown. Cadenhead’s has flourished under Mitchell’s stewardship, releasing many legendary single malt bottlings in the 1980s and 1990s and now has outlets in Edinburgh and London as well as Campbeltown.