Scotland, Speyside. Distillery operational. Owners: Chivas Brothers Ltd, Pernod Ricard

Chivas Brothers' flagship malt, The Glenlivet was widely introduced to the international scene and became one of the world's most popular Scottish malts in the early 1950s. Its owners completed something of a Herculean task, releasing Glenlivet in a number of different age expressions in the 1960s, including a 12, 15, 18 and 21 year old. Then, in the 1970s, it released superb vintage versions distilled 1959 and 1961, alongside the famous 12 year old, before beginning the new millennium with an outstanding range in the style of the day, The Glenlivet Cellar Collection. In terms of independent bottlings, it was under the colourful label “Glenlivet Whisky, George & JG Smith”, which paid tribute to the distillery's founder (also a colourful figure in the whisky industry in the 19th century), that bottlers released the malt, including Gordon & MacPhail who once again stood out with remarkable editions heavily influenced by sherry.

A 1970s Glenlivet 12 Year Old imported to Italy by Armando Giovinetti, who was famously also the importer for Macallan and Glen Grant, and who helped make these bottlings a huge success in his country. Glenlivet 12 Year Old was the distillery’’s leading bottling until it was replaced by Founder’’s Reserve in 2015. At the time this bottling was released, Glenlivet was fast becoming one of the best-selling single malts in the world, notably in the United States. In 1970, it merged with Hill Thompson & Co and The Longmorn-Glenlivet Distilleries to form The Glenlivet Distilleries Ltd, which was soon-after bought by Seagram in 1978.