GLAYVA

The Glayva story begins in the port of Leith in Edinburgh in 1947. At the time the local area had almost 100 bonded warehouses filled with single malts from all over Scotland. Leith was well known for producing some of the best blended whisky on the market from these huge stocks. Meanwhile the docks themselves were heaving with exotic spices and fruits, cargo unloaded off ships arriving from the far reaches of the empire. A local whisky merchant named Ronald Morrison was looking to create a special liqueur, something that would comfort and warm his most loyal customers through the long, cold Scottish winter. He started with a blend of some of the finest single malts, to which he added zesty tangerines from the Mediter-ranean, honey, sweet almonds, star anise, vanilla and aromatic spices like cinnamon. Morrison was from the Isle of Lewis and employed several Gaelic speakers. The first to taste the new blend exclaimed “glé mhath”, pronounced glay-va, meaning very good. Since then it has gone on to be the best liqueur in the world, awarded fourteen times at the International Wine and Spirits competition.