It was concern about the security of his water source and a great sense for opportunity that has led William Grant to build another distillery on his Dufftown site. With a quick yet very calculated move William started constructing The Balvenie Distillery in 1891, starting production in 1892 and still remaining in the same family hands today.
Using the remains of New Balvenie Castle, an estate house originally constructed in 1724 by James Duff, William Grant converted that building into a malting floor and using the basement for what we today know as Warehouse 24. With the addition of the required production facilities for mashing, fermentation and distillation, The Balvenie is still made in the same traditional way as in its early days using the same buildings. We even use the surrounding farmland to grow some of our own malt, a rare sight amongst distillers today.
Even Prohibition didn’t stop the family’s ambition to grow. When others struggled, the family planned for the future. The original malting floor was demolished and new, bigger malting floor was built in the late 1920s which is still malting our own homegrown barley, allowing us to experiment and keeping the craft alive. Alongside our own Cooperage looking after our casks and our own coppersmiths repairing the copper stills, The Balvenie truly brings together the traditional crafts of Scotch Whisky.
When we add the pioneering of cask finishing by previous Malt Master David Stewart one can truly see, how The Balvenie leaves his very impressive marks in Scotch Whisky history for generations to come. A true family business shaped by tradition, passion and the spirit of exploring new opportunities whenever opportunities arise.
