William Grant & Sons Ltd is an independent, family-owned Scottish company that distills Scotch whisky and other selected categories of spirits. It was established in 1887 by William Grant, and is run by Grant's descendants as of 2018. It is the largest of the handful of Scotch whisky distillers remaining in family ownership. The company is the third largest producer of Scotch whisky (8% market share), shipping about 7.6 million cases per year, with brands including Glenfiddich and Balvenie. The first and second largest, respectively, are Diageo (34.4%), and Pernod Ricard. The company is registered at The Glenfiddich distillery in Dufftown. The main operational headquarters are located at Strathclyde Business Park, North Lanarkshire. Sales and marketing headquarters are in Richmond, London. The company is a member of the Scotch Whisky Association. The master blender of Grant's is Brian Kinsman, who succeeded David Stewart who had been in his post for 47 years, the longest serving master blender with one distiller in the industry. In July 2014 it was reported that Grant's donated "in the region of £100,000" to the unionist campaign group Better Together, with the company being "said to have also donated smaller sums of money to other groups who are campaigning for a 'No' vote," ahead of the Scottish independence referendum. William Grant & Sons has won the Queen's Award to Industry for Outstanding Export Achievement. History William Grant was born in Dufftown in 1839. In 1886, Grant and his six sons started construction of Glenfiddich distillery. On Christmas Day, 1887, the distillery was operational. In 1892, William Grant & Sons built a second neighbouring distillery called Balvenie. In 1963 Girvan grain whisky distillery was built in South Ayrshire, Scotland. In 1990, William Grant & Sons founded the Kininvie distillery. In 1992 William Grant & Sons bought the Convalmore distillery, to increase warehousing capacity for Glenfiddich. In 1992 William Grant & Sons launched Hendrick's Gin, a brand of gin produced at the Girvan distillery, Scotland. In 1999, the company acquired Highland Distillers through a partnership with Edrington Group taking a majority interest (the 1887 Company). In October 2002, the company acquired the Canadian whisky brand Gibson's Finest. In 2005, William Grant & Sons established a distillery in Borgarnes, Iceland to make vodka. The brand was named Reyka. In October 2005, the company bought Raynal & Cie and acquired the brandy brands Three Barrels and The Raynal. In 2009,