Interview with Kirsten Grant Meikle – Glenfiddich

Glenfiddich – the most award-winning single malt Scotch whisky in the world! With sales of almost one million bottles per year, Glenfiddich is the absolute world leader. But Glenfiddich is not only a leader when it comes to quantity, the quality of Glenfiddich whiskies is also outstanding, because the most award-winning single malts in the world come from Glenfiddich!

Kevin Underwood talk with Kirsten Grant Meikle, a mumber of the Grand family about Whisky.

Kevin Underwood
Mrs Grand Meikle, you come from a family with a pioneering spirit, has anything rubbed off on to you?

Kirsten Grant Meikle
I certainly would like to think so. I am the first female from the family to work in the business for quite some time and the first ‘Glendronacher’ (my branch of the family) since my great Grandfather, Captain Charles Grant of Glendronach. I also like to feel that along with my Uncles Charles Gordon that I really helped pushed some agendas in the WGS&S business and specifically around the Prestige On-Trade and high end retail areas. Being pivotal in moving the business towards a more luxury focus at all touch points will hopefully be my legacy.

I am also on track in around 10 years to become the first female Master of the Worshipful Company of Distillers which has been running since 1638.

Kevin Underwood
Was it clear to you early on that you were going to work in the beverage industry? Why? What fascinates you about this industry?

Kirsten Grant Meikle
I was really unsure what I was going to end up doing early on so I did a general business degree at University in Edinburgh. I had worked in bars throughout my time there however and really just loved the industry. After I graduated I started to look at what career options were available and sales seemed something I really wanted to do.

Of course I was brought up surrounded by it. As well as the wider WGS&S business, my father also owned bars and a mircro-brewery in the 80s so I was really in the middle of it from a very young age.

What fascinates me is the consumer. How they consume and what they consume. How trends begin and what sticks. What really makes a brand successful? It is not always as obvious as we would like to think. It’s an entire psychology all of its own!

Kevin Underwood
Can you tell us a little bit about how you finally joined William Grant & Sons, because you were very successful elsewhere? Or has that always been your plan to join the family business?

Kirsten Grant Meikle
I was extremely close to my late uncle, Charles Gordon, who sadly passed away in December 2013. Charlie was chairman and later life president and always took an interest in my career.

Before joining the family business, I’d been working at the UK’s biggest on-trade drinks wholesaler for eight years. It was a fantastic role, travelling the world, creating brands, dealing with suppliers, negotiating prices. Naturally uncle Charlie paid attention and three years ago he called up and insisted I meet him for dinner — on the 10th of February, as I recall. I was due to be in France, but needless to
say we ended up going to dinner on the 10th – uncle Charlie always got his way. When he then asked me to join the family business half way through dinner, of course I said yes.

Kevin Underwood
What many people don’t know, you are also an absolute wine expert. Has this helped you in the whisky business?

Kirsten Grant Meikle
Yes, for a number of reasons. As part of my wine learning, I completed the WSET Diploma Level 4. This also includes a large area around spirits so from this I gained a good technical knowledge and a skill for blind tasting.

Loving wine led me into my first sales role in Matthew Clark which also involved selling spirits so over this time I also managed to gain a lot of knowledge across the producer and category base including a number of distillery visits to France, Italy and of course Scotland.

When I moved from the distributor to WGS&S, I was truly embedded in the industry in the UK and many of the customers of course are the same so I had built a great network of industry buyers (and friends!)

Kevin Underwood
What are you in charge of at William Grant & Sons currently?

Kirsten Grant Meikle
I moved from London to the USA last September as part of my personal development in the business. I spent 6 months in New York and am now living in Los Angeles. My current title in the business is US Commercial Strategy Director which involves looking at a number of areas of the US business including the Luxury agenda. Of course, I am also here to learn how the market works which is a big task compared to the UK – it’s essentially 50 markets in one!

Kevin Underwood
How large is William Grant & Sons, how many employees does William Grant & Sons have? In how many countries is William Grant & Sons distributed?

Kirsten Grant Meikle
WGS&S is a medium sized spirits business. We have around 2100 direct employees however this number does not include our many distributors and agency employees who work for us under contracted companies. We are currently distributed in over 120 countries around the world. We have a number of offices around the world and this is growing all the time.
Last week we received two of the most prestigious accolades at the 2018 International Spirits Challenge (ISC): the Scotch Whisky Producer of the Year and Distiller of the Year awards and we received honours for 61 spirits across our portfolio. As Chief Executive Simon Hunt says, it’s a recognition of our passion and pioneering spirit.

Kevin Underwood
Dufftown, the birthplace of William Grant, is still home to the distilleries, which you can also visit, what awaits the visitor?

Kirsten Grant Meikle
We were the first company to open our doors to visitors in 1969 when the Glenfiddich Visitor Centre was opened by my Uncle David Grant and our celebrated great Aunt, Janet Sheed Roberts.

The distillery and the production processes have not changed to this day really however since that time we have opened the doors to visitors for the Balvenie distillery which is on the same site and improved our offering in the Maltbarn restaurant and the shop. We are open all year round except for Christmas and New Year for a variety of tour options from standard 1 hour to a 4 hour in depth tour with tasting and private bottling.

Having just come back yourself Kevin, I am sure you can give your readers some insight from a visitors point of view!

Kevin Underwood
Very gladly . At first I was impressed by the friendliness of the people who work for William Grant & Sons. Impressively beautiful is also the landscape of Dufftown and the big one of William Grant & Sons.

The Visitor Centre is fantastic because it has managed to learn everything about the family business and especially about whisky production. I would absolutely recommend a visit to William Grant & Sons to all people who like whisky. In addition, the landscape naturally offers many possibilities to spend a nice time, if I only think of the castles and golf courses in Scotland.

The CafeI/Restaurant Malt Barn is fantastic, very cosy, the food is very delicious. Tasting of the world’s best whiskies is possible at any time. Just try the originally Scottish Breakfast!

The accommodations are very luxurious and yet you feel at home.

Since I not only like whisky but also love cigars and enjoy it in combination, I like to drink on a Glenfiddich again and again on my travels, because in the meantime after many tastings I have convinced the quality more and more and I get this fantastic whisky all over the world.

Mrs. Grand Meikle, thank you and your family, that you created this wonderful place to decelerate, just to enjoy and have an unforgettable stay with William Grant & Sons in Scotland.

Kevin Underwood
Why is Scotland the best place for making the finest Whisky? What is special in Dufftown?

Kirsten Grant Meikle
There are two key elements in making whisky – patience and rain! The latter we have plenty of in Dufftown. That said it has been a bit dry over the last 4 weeks this year but I am sure that will change soon enough. We have been making whisky there for 131 years so I am confident we will keep going.

My great great grandfather, William Grant was set on Dufftown mainly in part to the Robbie Dhu water source that comes down the Conval Hills into Dufftown and this was the main reason for the sighting of the distillery. Gravity also plays a part in that it is at the bottom of the hill in the ‘glen’.

Temperature also plays a part in the aging process. We don’t heat or cool any of our warehouses so the Scottish climate is perfect for the aging whisky.

Kevin Underwood
How many varieties are there of Glenfiddich single malt? What does a bottle of Glenfiddich cost on average, how expensive is the most expensive and what is the difference? What exactly makes a good single malt whisky?

Kirsten Grant Meikle
I actually don’t know the answer to how many there are. Over the years we have done so many Vintages, Special editions, cask bottlings etc etc that it is really hard to keep track. Our core range is;

12, 15 Solera, 18 and 21 Year Old.

We then go into the higher marks of 26, 30, 40 and 50 Year Old.

There is the new Experimental Series of IPA, Project XX and Winter Storm (with a new release coming anyday!)

We have the Travel Retail exclusive range also.

It is almost impossible to calculate an average cost and this number would not make much sense really…I can tell you that our Glenfiddich 12 Retailer Recommended Price is £35 and Glenfiddich 50 is currently around £28,000. Of course, these are only our recommended prices and all pricing is at the discretion of the retailers themselves.

In simplistic terms, the difference is in the aging. The final yields from a cask producing 50 year old whisky is significantly less than a cask producing 12 year old. There is also the cost of laying down the product and the risk and cost involved in keeping something like this for so long. Older whisky tends to be much more complex with many more layers of flavor that open up as you sip the spirit.

Our oldest and most expensive bottles ever released where the 11 bottles we did in honour of our great Aunt, Janet Sheed. They auctioned them off for charity and I think the highest bidder paid around £120,000 for 1 bottle. It was a 55 year old Bourbon cask.

What makes good whisky……good water, well built and maintained stills, good wood, passion and patience!

Kevin Underwood
Is there a current trend among whisky lovers? As a cigar lover, I prefer to drink a good single malt whisky with my cigar. Why do you think the combination cigar / whisky is a real treat?

Kirsten Grant Meikle
I think a lot of that is about appreciation of craftsmanship, flavour combinations and being stuck in the moment. As our good friend, Daniel Marshall refer to it as – the Modern Day Campfire.

Drinking good whisky is about taking time to explore what is in your glass and really understand what flavours you are getting and perhaps also about contemplation and reflection. The same is true of cigars!

Kevin Underwood
Do you have a favorite – whiskey? And on what occasion do you prefer to drink the noble spirit?

Kirsten Grant Meikle
It’s really hard for me to answer this as it’s like asking which is my favorite child. Really it depends on a number of things – where I am, who I am with, what we are eating and who’s paying!

Thank you very much for the interview.