Edrington

Type: Owner group

On 1 May 1961, three sisters signed a deed that put their business assets into Edrington and gave their shares in the holding company to The Robertson Trust.[3] That decision still shapes the Scottish spirits group behind The Macallan, Highland Park and The Glenrothes.[1][3] Its portfolio has continued to change: The Courier reported that the sale of The Famous Grouse and Naked Malt to William Grant & Sons completed in July 2025, although authoritative confirmation is not supplied.[9]

What Edrington is known for

Edrington is the owner behind the names on the bottles, not another name for a single distillery. Its portfolio brings together three Scotch whisky brands, The Macallan, Highland Park and The Glenrothes, alongside Wyoming Whiskey, Brugal rum and No. 3 London Dry Gin.[1] Each has its own identity, rather than sharing Edrington as the name on every label.

The places behind those brands give the group its breadth. In the producer’s account, The Macallan has been made on the Easter Elchies estate since 1824, while Highland Park’s whisky-making history in Orkney reaches back to 1798.[1] Both histories long precede Edrington’s holding structure: they belong to the brands and their production, not to the founding of the group.

Wyoming Whiskey, established in 2006, brings an American whiskey business into the portfolio.[1] Brugal extends the reach beyond whisky: Edrington acquired the Dominican rum business in 2008, and the producer traces Brugal’s rum-making history to 1888.[1][5] To understand the ownership, keep three things distinct: the group, its brands and the places where their spirits are made.

The Robertson sisters and the trust

The decisive moment in Edrington’s structure came on 1 May 1961. Elspeth, Agnes and Ethel, known as “Babs”, Robertson signed the deed that placed their business assets into Edrington. They gave their shares in the holding company to the newly established Robertson Trust.[3]

Their decision had two purposes, according to the Trust: protecting the businesses from hostile takeover and funding charity.[3] Nor did the sisters step away after making the gift. Between them, they served as trustees for a combined 71 years.[2] They had created an arrangement they would continue to help sustain.

The businesses entrusted to that structure had deeper family roots. William Robertson founded Robertson & Baxter in Glasgow in the mid nineteenth century, and the family founded Highland Distillers in 1887.[5] Those earlier enterprises form the background to Edrington, rather than marking the creation of its later holding structure.

Story box: the shares that established a charitable structure

“Family company” tells only part of this story. The Robertson family created the businesses and the charitable arrangement, but the sisters’ gifted shares belong to the Trust.[3] Edrington is also private, rather than a stock-market business, according to The Herald.[4] Family origins, charitable shareholding and private-company status each describe a different part of its structure.

How the portfolio changed

The 1999 acquisition of Highland Distillers brought The Famous Grouse, The Macallan and Highland Park into Edrington.[5] It was a defining expansion. Later sales reshaped that portfolio, so a list of the group’s historic acquisitions will not tell the whole story of what it owns today.

Cutty Sark shows how much can sit behind an old ownership reference. Launched through Berry Bros. & Rudd in 1923, the brand passed to Edrington in 2010 and was sold to La Martiniquaise in 2018, according to contemporary trade reporting.[6] That sale is part of its ownership history; authoritative ownership records are needed to confirm the present position.

For The Famous Grouse, the key dates distinguish the agreement from the reported completion. Edrington agreed in September 2024 to sell The Famous Grouse and Naked Malt to William Grant & Sons; The Courier reported completion in July 2025.[8][9] For more on the buyer named in the agreement, continue with William Grant & Sons.

The announced sale also marked a change in emphasis. Reporting described Edrington’s intention to concentrate on what the company called its “ultra-premium spirit brands”.[8] The phrase describes Edrington’s strategy, rather than offering an independent judgement of the quality of the spirits it retained or sold.

The Macallan’s new distillery

The Macallan’s replacement distillery gives Edrington’s investment in production a concrete shape. Its “curiously small” stills were made by Forsyths, according to project partner Robertson, continuing a relationship dating from the 1950s.[10] WhiskyCast’s 2018 report recorded 36 stills and said they would eventually allow annual production to rise by about a third.[12]

The project moved from announcement to production before its doors opened to the public:

Project partner Robertson identifies Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners as the designer, selected after an international competition.[10] A Wikipedia passage instead names Norman Foster, leaving the attribution disputed in the supplied record.[13]

The production figures also belong to a particular moment. WhiskyCast’s still count describes the new facility in 2018, rather than a current equipment survey. The same report said the old distillery was mothballed after the new stills were commissioned in late 2017.[12]

Keeping first spirit separate from public opening makes the investment story clearer: the distillery was making spirit before it welcomed visitors. Its history runs through distinct stages, rather than fitting neatly into a single “opened in 2018” entry. Detailed production analysis belongs in a distillery-specific account.

Reading Edrington ownership correctly

Start with the brand and the date. Edrington’s current presentation places The Macallan, Highland Park, The Glenrothes and Wyoming Whiskey in its whisky portfolio.[1] An older company profile may accurately describe its own period while giving the wrong impression of the group today.

The sale reports for Cutty Sark and The Famous Grouse are historical transaction records, not a substitute for authoritative confirmation of present ownership.[6][9] For anyone tracing a bottle, read an old Edrington reference alongside subsequent records rather than carrying its ownership claim forward unchanged.

The charitable structure answers a different question. The Robertson Trust’s founding history explains the sisters’ share gift; individual acquisitions and disposals need their own records.[3] A group name, the company selling an asset and the brand being acquired are distinct parts of a transaction. The practical differences are explored in how distillery ownership changes.

Where to go next

• William Grant & Sons: follow the group reported to have acquired The Famous Grouse and Naked Malt.
• La Martiniquaise-Bardinet: put Cutty Sark’s subsequent ownership in context.
• How Distillery Ownership Changes: distinguish an announced transaction from a completed change of ownership.

Sources

[1] Edrington. The Home of Exceptional Spirits. Undated corporate website, portfolio and producer histories supplied as checked November 2026. https://www.edrington.com/

[2] The Robertson Trust. Our Story. Undated institutional history, supplied as checked November 2026. https://www.therobertsontrust.org.uk/about-us/our-story

[3] The Robertson Trust. The Robertson Trust at 60. Anniversary publication, 2021. https://www.therobertsontrust.org.uk/media/cusnghct/the_robertson_trust_at_60_digital_-spreads.pdf

[4] The Herald. Ian McConnell: Scotch whisky giant some may not have heard of. Opinion and business account, 2023. https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/food_and_drink/opinion/23633739.scotch-whisky-macallan-owners-success-must-toasted/

[5] Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Edrington Joins the Distilled Spirits Council. Industry-body announcement, publication year not specified in the supplied record. https://distilledspirits.org/news/edrington-joins-the-distilled-spirits-council/

[6] The Drinks Business. Edrington sells Cutty Sark Scotch whisky brand to La Martiniquaise. November 2018. https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2018/11/edrington-sells-cutty-sark-scotch-whisky-brand-to-la-martiniquaise/

[8] VinePair. Edrington to Sell The Famous Grouse to William Grant & Sons. September 2024. https://vinepair.com/booze-news/edrington-the-famous-grouse-sale/

[9] The Courier. Job losses and profits plunge for Edrington. Publication date not specified in the supplied record; reports July 2025 completion. https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/business-environment/business/5318887/whisky-firm-sells-famous-grouse/

[10] Robertson. New Macallan distillery unveiled by Edrington in Speyside. Project partner’s account, 2018. https://www.robertson.co.uk/news/new-macallan-distillery-unveiled-edrington-speyside

[11] Edrington. Annual Report 2018: Operations. 2018. https://annualreport.edrington.com/annual-report-2018/operations/

[12] WhiskyCast. The Macallan Opens New Distillery. 2018. https://whiskycast.com/the-macallan-opens-new-140-million-distillery/

[13] Wikipedia. The Macallan distillery. Publication year not supplied; checked November 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Macallan_distillery

This desk-researched article uses the supplied verified fact sheet, distinguishing institutional and producer accounts from trade reporting; no independent live source check was performed for this draft.

Last checked: November 2026