The Glenfiddich Distillery was founded in 1886 by William Grant in Dufftown, Scotland, in the glen of the River Fiddich. The Glenfiddich single malt whisky first ran from the stills on Christmas Day, 1887.

In the 1920s, with prohibition in force in the US, Glenfiddich was one of a very small number of distilleries to increase production. This put them in a strong position to meet the sudden rise in demand for fine aged whiskies that came with the repeal of prohibition.

In the 1950s, the Grant family built up an onsite infrastructure that included coppersmiths to maintain the copper stills, and a dedicated cooperage that is now one of the very few remaining in distilleries. In 1956 the Grant’s brand launched the now-iconic triangular bottle, designed by Hans Schleger.

Following difficult times in the 1960s and 1970s, many small, independent distillers were bought up or went out of business. In order to survive, W. Grant & Sons expanded their production of the drink, and introduced advertising campaigns and a visitors’ centre. In this period they also decided to begin marketing single malt as a premium brand in its own right, effectively creating the modern single malt whisky category with the 1963 introduction of Glenfiddich single malt to the United States and other foreign markets.

Later, W. Grant & Sons was one of the first distilleries to package its bottles in tubes and gift tins, as well as recognising the importance of the duty-free market for spirits. This marketing strategy was successful, and Glenfiddich has since become the world’s best-selling single malt. It is sold in 180 countries, and accounts for about 35% of single malt sales.

Glenfiddich is currently managed by the fifth generation of William Grant’s descendants.

In September 2014, William Grant & Sons agreed to acquire Drambuie for an undisclosed price rumoured to be in the region of £100 million

In 2015, Glenfiddich commissioned ad agency Gravity Thinking to create a high tech YouTube campaign titled The Finishing Touch to promote the relaunch of their 21yo single malt, aged in Caribbean Reserva Rum Casks. The video showed a levitron isolating a single drop of whisky in a mid-air suspended animation, and featured Puerto Rican singer Calma Carmona performing the Franz Ferdinand song Love illumination with the orchestra of the Scottish Opera arranged and conducted by Derek Williams. By the end of the campaign, the video had garnered more than 1.7 million YouTube hits.

Since 2002, Glenfiddich has had an Artists in Residence (AiR) programme with a total budget of £130,000 allowing artists to stay and work in the distillery each year. In 2019 there were eight artists in residence and in 2021, there were six artists in residence.

In 2021, the distillery began converting distillery trucks to run on biogas made from the distillery waste products.