Founded in 1957 by the Chivas Brothers group, the Glen Keith distillery was, in its early days, designed to trial new ideas. Originally equipped for triple distillation, it was also the first to install a gas-fired still system, developed its own strains of yeast and produced a peated single malt named Glenisla. The distillery was mothballed in 1999 and then bought by Pernod Ricard, who updated the distillery and relaunched production in 2013.

A Glen Keith distilled in 1983 and bottled in 1994 for the Heritage Collection, which also included bottlings of Longmorn, Benriach and Strathisla. The range was clearly inspired by the Classic Malts range launched by United Distillers a few years earlier in 1988, followed by the Caledonian Malts from Allied Distillers in 1991. It therefore reflects the growing focus on single malts seen among leading blenders at the time. This edition of Glen Keith was soon replaced by a 10 year old.