Glenfiddich-Glenlivet 1973-1994 - 21 Year Old - Cadenheads Miniature

Glenfiddich distillery was built in 1886 by William Grant and is still owned by his family descendants today. Glenfiddich played a major role in the history of Scotch whisky, as the first distillery to commercialise its own official bottlings of single malt whisky in the early 1960s. This move was to shape the industry up to the present day, and Glenfiddich has remained the world’s best-selling single malt whisky. 

It’s unlikely William Grant would recognise Glenfiddich today: as of the 2020 reconstruction the distillery now has a remarkable 43 stills making over 20 million litres of alcohol per annum. The core range official bottlings are frequently augmented by small batch limited editions; independent bottlings are almost non-existent. The exceptionally rare 1937 vintage released in 2001 is probably the most sought-after Glenfiddich, though early and/or long-aged vintage expressions also do well at auction.

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.