Glen Grant was established in 1897 by James Buchanan & Company in collaboration with their whisky supplier W.P. Lowrie. In 1906, the former acquired the latter's interests. The company constructed an attractive building three miles from Keith, designed by John Alcock under the supervision of the legendary Charles Doig. Like many distilleries of this era, the location was selected for its water supply and transportation links—a railway siding was built behind the distillery. Production commenced in May 1898. Interestingly, Glen Grant conducted experiments in continuous malt whisky distillation around 1910. The "Continuous Pot Still Project" is now part of the Diageo Archive collection at the Dufftown Library. Additionally, there is a case from Convalmore Distillery housed in the Speyside Museum in Dufftown. James Buchanan & Company merged with D.C.L. in 1925. In 1930, Glen Grant was assigned to S.M.D. for management, but the license was granted to Buchanan until 1949. In the mid-1960s, the distillery underwent complete renovation. In 1966, Glen Grant expanded from two to six stills and built a new still house adjacent to the malting floor. These were closed in 1968, but two pagoda-style Doig kilns remain, and the building retains a roller malting device dating back to 1925. By the mid-1980s, uncertain circumstances took another turn. In 1985, Glen Grant was mothballed, then sold to Allied Distillers in 1989. Production resumed in August of the same year. In 2005, Pernod Ricard acquired most of Allied Distillers' Scottish whisky interests, and Glen Grant's ownership changed again. In 2006, the cast iron collection boxes in the still house (some dating back to the 1930s) were replaced, but wooden spirit receivers were retained. The mash house was upgraded in 2007. At that time, Glen Grant had decided to continue operating manually (unlike other Chivas Brothers distilleries), providing a practical training base for all staff, including management. Since 2011, Glen Grant's pure alcohol production capacity has increased from 3.4 million liters to 4.2 million liters. To achieve this increase, the distillery switched to 24-hour operation and moved two fermentation tanks from the dismantled Caperdonich Distillery.

In 1879, at the age of 30, James Buchanan traveled to London to become an agent for Chas MacKinlay & Company. Upon his death at 86, he was ennobled as Baron Woolavington, owned estates across four counties, had twice won the Derby, and donated substantial sums to charitable causes and hospitals. He left an estate valued at over £7 million—a colossal fortune in 1935.