The best dram in the valley
It doesn’t take long for the true beauty of Scotland to reveal itself (once you depart from the rather industrial airport of Aberdeen that is). The more you delve into the green pastures of the surrounding countryside, the more dramatic the landscape becomes; there are plunging valleys, sweeping hillside vistas and endless fields separated by quaint, dry stone walls. Head west though, towards the Speyside region of north-east Scotland, and a new phenomenon becomes apparent. Speyside is the home of whisky. In fact, it dominates the industry. Half of all Scotland’s distilleries are located there (50, to be exact), and during a swift drive through the slender hillside passes you’ll take in the likes of Macallan, Chivas, Balvenie, Glenlivet, and a little further north, Glen Moray, among others. One distillery stands out though, not least because of its name.
Glenfiddich is one of the most prestigious whisky brands, both in Scotland and indeed the world. A certain William Grant founded the company back in 1886 and, with the help of his offspring (he had nine sons), built a distillery in the glen of the River Fiddich with his own hands. This set him back the sum of £775, but the investment was more than worthwhile. The distillery was finished just a year after they began and the first single malt was flowing on Christmas Day, 1887. For over 125 years now, Glenfiddich has been producing exemplary single malt whisky from this very distillery, and while it may have grown larger and their name become known globally, they remain true to William Grant’s goal of making the ‘best dram in the valley’. Still owned by William Grant & Sons today, Glenfiddich is one of the only independent, family-owned distilleries in the world, and it shows.
The family’s creativity and respect for tradition becomes apparent when you delve into how their whisky is made. Firstly, Glenfiddich are one of the only distilleries to heat their stills with fire. This old-fashioned technique has been shunned by the majority of other brands in favour of indirect steam heating as it’s deemed to be more efficient; the big conglomerates who own other whisky brands prefer this money-saving method. Given that Glenfiddich is still family-owned though, they can do things their own way and as it’s worked for them for over a century, why change?
It’s the little touches, like this, that make Glenfiddich stand out, but it’s the depths they go to and their attention to detail that makes their whisky some of the most renowned on the planet. Anybody who’s ever drunk alcohol will be familiar with the brand’s 12-year-old, which comes in that familiar green, triangular bottle. There is nothing wrong with the dram’s warming pear and robust oak notes; indeed, this very drink would make a loyal and perfectly adept accompaniment to a freshly cut Cohiba in front of the fire. One must explore the brand’s other expressions though, to truly experience what Glenfiddich is all about.
Glenfiddich prides itself on innovation. Indeed, Mr William Grant himself wasn’t shy of invention and going against the grain; building a distillery from scratch back in the 19th century was the move of a maverick. It’s fitting then that the fifth generation of Grants who run the brand continue to invent, searching for new ways to improve their precious liquid. One such creation is the Solera Vat used to mature their signature 15-year-old. Created in 1998 by former Malt Master David Stewart, the Solera Vat is essentially a custom built, oversized oak cask that adds extra levels of complexity to an already stellar dram. The Vat itself is constantly topped up and never emptied, meaning some of the original 15-year-old used to fill it in 1998 may still be present, a romantic notion indeed. It’s a time-consuming and costly process, but one that demonstrates Glenfiddich’s strive for perfection.
A good example of just how far Glenfiddich is willing to go can be found in their 21-year-old Gran Reserva. Not bound by the chains of a large corporation, the family entrusted Malt Master Brian Kingsman with the task of going somewhere no other brand had gone before with the finish of this exotic expression. He came up with the idea of maturing the single malt in a rum-seasoned bourbon barrel, but of course the family wanted complete control over the way this barrel would influence the whisky. This meant, rather than approaching an established rum producer, they concocted their own original Caribbean rum sourced from three tropical islands, a secret recipe the brand keep close to their chest – and rightly so. The result is an especially complex and rewarding single malt that excites the palette with spicy, warming undertones of ginger and sweet caramel, as well as notes of zingy lime and banana.
It wasn’t just the whisky that impressed on our visit to the home of Glenfiddich in Dufftown. It was the distillery itself. Perched idyllically in a sunken valley, it sits there peacefully, seamlessly blending into its environment with its crisp, trimmed lawns, welcoming ivy-covered buildings and delicately worn stone walls; even part of the original distillery is intact, complete with intricate, copper-topped pagoda roof.
If you’re one of those people who buy into a brand’s image, it’s not hard to fall in love with Glenfiddich. In fact, it’s easy. The romance is only heightened by the fact that they produce whisky that is just as beautiful and complex as Scotland itself.
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