The Whisky River - Glenfiddich distillery
In the world of single malts, Glenfiddich holds a special place. In 1963 it was the first company to market a single malt whisky outside Scotland, and the distinctive triangular bottle, designed in 1957 by Hans Schleger, was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. Many people in the whisky industry, which was at that time completely dominated
by blends, did not understand this move, but the company judged (and possibly shaped) the future trend of the whisky market. This vision gave Glenfiddich a head start and to this day it remains the number one best selling single malt in the world and the only one to be awarded 'Superbrand' status.
Glenfiddich, on the northern edge of Dufftown, is a very attractive distillery with a small lochan between the car park and the visitor centre and the ruins of Balvenie Castle close by. Glenfiddich caters for more than 80,000 visitors a year and does so very efficiently and with care. It was the first distillery to open a visitor centre and is one of the very few that still provides a standard tour free of charge. There is also a Connoisseur's Tour for those who want a more in-depth experience with a full tasting. The visitor facilities were improved and extended in 2005. The tour now ends in a very modern and attractive bar for a taste of Glenfiddich, and the distillery has a café, bar and restaurant (the Malt Barn), which sells good simple food as well as whisky, wine, Innes and Gunn beer and excellent coffee. This is a welcome development for the whole of Dufftown. Glenfiddich's production water comes from the Robbie Dhu Spring in the Conval Hills. The water source gives its name to the Robbie Dhu Centre, used for tastings, events and hospitality. The year previous to my visit, I had attended an event in the Robbie Dhu Centre which was part of the Glenfiddich Artist in Residence Programme. Through this unique programme, Glenfiddich brings artists from around the world to the distillery for three months, with a remit to create new work of art inspired by the distillery and its surrounding area. The company invests approximately £100,000 each year in this valuable initiative. The company has also presented the Glenfiddich Food and Drink Awards every year since 1970.
The first spirit ran from Glenfiddich stills on Christmas Day, 1887 (the same year that Alfred Barnard's book was published). William Grant had worked at the nearby Mortlach distillery for 20 years. During 1886 and 1887, with the help of his wife, their nine children and one stone mason, he built the distillery by hand, converting his hard won savings into a project that would become a legend. Much of the original stone work still stands. Grant set up his distillery using secondhand stills from Cardhu distillery, a trick
he was to repeat when he built the sister distillery of Balvenie a few years later. The Grant family still own the distillery, making it one of the very few distilleries still in the hands of a Scottish family. As well as producing the world's number one single malt, Glenfiddich contributes to the various Grants blends. This is the biggest malt distillery in Speyside, with an annual output of around 10 million litres. William Grant might have started out with only three second-hand stills but they made fine whisky. The company currently operates 28 stills, all based on those three original styles; the wash stills are onion shaped, while one spirit still is boil ball and the other is lampglass. The only deviation in design has been the creation of a porthole in one of the spirit stills so that visitors can see what happens inside an operating still. Glenfiddich stills are gas-fired, having changed from coal quite recently.
To produce wash for this army of stills, Glenfiddich has two large mash tuns and 24 washbacks made of Douglas fir. The company's opinion is that wooden fermentation vessels do probably contribute in some small way to the flavour, though respect for tradition is perhaps the main reason for avoiding the use of stainless steel. On the subject of wood, Glenfiddich has its own cooperage and regularly takes its coopers to whisky festivals to demonstrate the speed and skill of their traditional craft. Slightly less traditional is the new automated and computerised system for charring the insides of casks. Distillers have always been anxious about naked flames. Most Glenfiddich spirit is matured in American bourbon barrels, which these days are brought over whole and not remade into hogsheads. There is also some sherry wood maturation, which accounts for about 10 per cent of the 12 year old Special Reserve but represents a greater percentage of the other Glenfiddich bottlings, rising to about 50 per cent of the 30 year old. The standard Glenfiddich had no age statement for a while but is now presented as a 12 year old. It is a smooth, easy-drinking single malt with not much depth but great finesse - a single malt for any time of the day but especially for sunny afternoons - sunshine, fragrant fruit and honey in the glass. A 12 year old is also available as the Caoran Reserve, which has been finished in ex-Islay casks, bringing a peatiness that might once have been more evident in the character of Glenfiddich, for example in the days when peat was the fuel throughout Speyside, or during the Second World War when coal was difficult to get. There are two 15 year old bottlings, one of which is cask strength (51 per cent abv), while the other is the Solera Reserve, which marries three different types of oak cask. Depth of charactercomes through in the 18 year old, with its honey and spice, and especially in the 21 year old Gran Reserva, with its Cuban rum finish. There are various other vintages,from the 30 year old to the 1937 bottling, certainly one of the oldest and most expensive whiskies ever bottled. The most extensive collection of Glenfiddichs in the world does not belong to the Grant family. Neither does it reside in Scotland, but rather in the Danish home of Hans Henrik Hansen.Personally, I think whisky should be drunk, not collected, but it is impossible not to feel awe and reverence when surrounded by all that dark green and black.Rare bottles of Glenfiddich are to whisky what Penny Blacks are to stamps. Glenfiddich means 'the valley of the deer', and the red deer stag has become the emblem of the distillery. Its proud face and lofty antlers gaze out from the label of every bottle. At the time of my last visit, there was a floral display in the form of a stag, and a stag weathervane sits top of one of the pagoda roofs. It seems appropriate that this, the most famous of our indigenous species, should be the emblem of our largest surviving indigenous whisky company.
To order a copy of 'The Whisky River' from the publishers click here.
