Glen Garioch is a fertile farmland of 150 square miles in the heart of Aberdeenshire, once known as the "granary" of the county. This is the location of Old Meldrum village, where the distillery built in 1797 stands, likely on the site of an earlier distillery (dating back to 1785). The founder was John Manson, and four years later his son Alexander joined the operation. The distillery changed hands after 40 years, and again in 1884 when it was acquired by J.G. Thomson & Company, an old wine and spirits merchant from Leith, whose offices are now the headquarters of the Scotch Whisky Association. Around 1908, William Sanderson, creator of the VAT 69 blend and founder of William Sanderson & Sons, became the owner. In 1933, Sanderson & Son merged with Booth's Distilleries Ltd, which owned Royal Brackla, Milton and Stronachs distilleries and their eponymous gin. Four years later, the merged company joined D.C.L., and Glen Garioch distillery was managed by S.M.D. from 1943. In 1968, due to "long-term water shortage and limited production potential", they mothballed the old distillery, and two years later sold it to Stanley P. Morrison of Morrison's Bowmore Distillery. By digging deep wells nearby, Morrison solved the water problem, and in 1971 increased the stills from 2 to 3, adding a fourth in 1973, while retaining floor malting. The distillery's peat level increased, sourced from nearby St. Fergus Moss. In the early 1990s, the floor maltings were closed, and the stills converted to indirect heating by steam coils and pans. Morrison Bowmore Distillers was taken over by Suntory in 1994, after which Glen Garioch experienced a period of closure. The visitor centre reopened in January 2006, and was refurbished in early 2011. The whisky packaging also changed to a more elegant new design in 2009.

In the 1970s, rising fuel costs (from 9% to 16% of production expenses by 1980) prompted Morrison to install an innovative waste heat recovery system at Glen Grant Distillery. This system not only heated the kiln and preheated the wort but also warmed two acres of greenhouses, saving approximately £90,000 annually. For a time, the distillery became famous for its tomatoes and greenhouse plants, though the system was decommissioned in 1993. Another curious episode involved water sourcing. After Suntory's acquisition, Morrison Bowmore hired renowned water diviner Neil Muir, nicknamed 'Aberdeen's Water Boy.' His thick dialect was so impenetrable that even Scots struggled to understand him—making it nearly impossible for the interpreter to explain his findings to the Japanese executives!