Glen Glassaugh is a distillery that even its owners rarely mention. In 1874, it was founded by the enterprising local businessman James Moir, together with his two nephews and coppersmith Thomas Wilson, located on the outskirts of the old town and harbor of Portsoy on the Banffshire coast. Their goal was to sell most of their production as 'private' whisky or single malt whisky, and they found a ready buyer in Robertson & Baxter, a Glasgow-based whisky broker and blending company. Moir died in 1887. One of his nephews refurbished the distillery, but when another nephew died in 1892, the former decided to sell Glen Glassaugh to pay inheritance taxes. Moir's nephew sent the distillery's quotation to Robertson & Baxter, who immediately sold it to their sister company Highland Distillers (now part of the Edrington Group). After 1898, demand for Glen Glassaugh decreased. Between 1907 and 1960, the distillery was shut down and was refurbished in 1960. However, in 1986, it was closed again, and remained silent except for a brief resumption in 1998. The on-site warehouses were used by Edrington. In February 2008, the Edrington Group announced the sale of Glen Glassaugh to the Dutch consortium Scaent Group for £5 million. Stuart Nickerson, distillery director of William Grant & Sons, provided consultancy services for the consortium in finding the distillery and was appointed managing director. The restored distillery opened on November 24, 2008, with the ribbon-cutting ceremony performed by local MP Alex Salmond, who later became First Minister of Scotland. In 2010, Ian Buxton published a comprehensive and elegantly written book about Glen Glassaugh. In 2013, Billy Walker, owner of the BenRiach and Glendronach distilleries, acquired Glen Glassaugh, and the ownership of the distillery changed again. In 2016, Walker packaged the three distilleries and sold them to Brown-Forman of Louisville, Kentucky for £285 million.

James Grant was a man of diverse enterprises—he sold seeds, hardware, fertilizers, wines and spirits. He served as an agent for the North of Scotland Bank, owned a fishing boat, and held salmon fishing rights on the River Spey. After 1865, he also served as colonel of the local volunteer artillery regiment. In the mid-1980s, Highland Distillers sought to amplify Glen Grant's sweet Speyside profile for The Famous Grouse blend. Believing soft water would help achieve this character, they conducted trials using water from Glenrothes. After initial success, the distillery installed a full water-softening plant. The cost proved prohibitive, and in 1985 the company decided to mothball Glen Grant while expanding production at Glenrothes distillery instead.