“Well Balanced & Exceptionally Smooth”

ORIGINS

The windswept valley of Glen Livet with the pure, icy waters of the River Livet, the “smooth flowing one,” running through it, is the perfect environment for distilling whisky. In the early 1800s, when whisky making was a clandestine industry, the glen’s secluded location allowed one illicit distiller, George Smith, to run his stills more slowly for a smoother, more balanced finish. This whisky from Glenlivet quickly became popular, so much so that it was requested by King George IV when he visited Scotland in 1822. Spurred on by this royal endorsement, George Smith obtained the first distiller’s license in the parish and created a legend. Other distillers soon tried to trade off its good name, branding Glenlivet on their casks of whisky, and it took a long legal battle to ensure that only George Smith’s whisky could be known as THE Glenlivet – the definitive article.