Obituary: Charles Grant Gordon, whisky executive

He was often described by his peers as “Mr Scotch Whisky”. That may be a little unfair on his younger brother Sandy, for they were both credited with making Glenfiddich – from the Gaelic for Valley of the Deer – the world’s leading single malt whisky, now popular from the United States to Russia and China and most points in between.

The company’s most famous blended whisky, Grant’s, has also become a world leader and the firm produces Balvenie single malt, Hendrick’s gin, Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey (acquired in 2010), and popular modern brands such as Monkey Shoulder whisky, Reyka Icelandic vodka, Milagro tequila and Sailor Jerry rum.

Glasgow-born Charlie Gordon was already a young director of the company, originally based in Dufftown, Banffshire, when Grant’s launched the revolutionary but now iconic triangular Glenfiddich bottle in 1956. He later helped expand the company, personally developing its distillery in Girvan, Ayrshire and introducing non-Scots, notably in the US, to the joys of a single malt. Workers building the Girvan distillery in 1963 recall the man who insisted on being called “Charlie” living in a caravan on the site and cycling around all day, every day, urging them on with the promise of free bottles when the job was done. He gave 1,500 bottles of Scotch to the workers and in return they welded his bicycle to the distillery’s cooling towers as a sign of respect.

Gordon also witnessed the takeover of much of the Scotch whisky and spirits industry by the current big two in alcoholic beverages production, Diageo (Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Guinness) and Pernod Ricard (Ballantine’s, Chivas Regal, Glenlivet, Jameson’s Irish whiskey, Absolut vodka), while Grant’s remained a family firm. He was a driving force behind the company’s expansion to its bottling plant and customer service centre in Strathclyde Business Park, Bellshill, Lanarkshire, its marketing office in Richmond upon Thames and the Glenfiddich visitor centre at the original 19th century distillery in Dufftown on Speyside. In his early years with the company in the late 1950s, Gordon was the first in the industry to have coppersmiths on site at the distillery, skilled craftsmen to tend to the copper stills, as well as coopers to look after the casks. He and Sandy went on to see the family’s products take off in Asia, Africa and South America.

According to Gavin Hewitt, the outgoing chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, Gordon helped “appeal to the emerging markets … to the affluent, the middle class people who are aspirational, people who see Scotch whisky as the drink of choice … and it means they’re part of the global network”.

Charles Grant Gordon was born in Glasgow on 21 August, 1927, eldest son of William Grant Gordon, a distiller in the family firm, and Janet Grant, a doctor. That made him a great-grandson of the founder, William Grant, twice over since his parents were distantly related.

He went to primary school near his home on Bearsden Road in the city, followed by Glasgow Academy, Ardvreck boarding school in Crieff and ultimately south of the Border at the historic Rugby public school in Warwickshire during the Second World War. From his dormitory at Rugby, he recalled seeing fires rise into the sky above Coventry, more than a dozen miles away, after that city was blitzed by the Luftwaffe.

Evacuated during the war, he spent much time back in Dufftown with his two beloved aunts, Elizabeth Gordon and Janet Sheed Roberts (née Gordon). The latter – “wee Janie” as Gordon called her – became something of a matriarch to the Grant’s whisky family and was the oldest woman in Scotland when she died last year at the age of 110.

Not quite turned 18, Gordon joined the Royal Navy right after the end of the war in 1945. Mostly based in Malta, he served aboard the heavy cruiser HMS Sussex, replenishing RN submarines, and ended his service in 1948 on board the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious.