Glenrothes Distillery is located in the town of Rothes in the heart of the Speyside region of Scotland. James Stewart, a local Rothes man started the construction of the distillery in 1878 with the help of two other businessmen, Robert Dick and William Grant (not the same as Glenfiddich). However, just at the same time, Scotland was facing a financial crisis with the collapse of the Glasgow bank and the distillery plans were about to be scrapped if it weren’t for the help and loan of the United Presbyterian Church and the Reverand William Sharp of the nearby town of Archiestown who raised through his sermons the final £600 for the completion of the distillery and kept the town of Rothes with enough work to pull through the financial crisis.

The day the first spirit was distilled at Glenrothes was 28 December 1879 and this might have been slightly seen as a bad omen for on the same day the Tay Bridge at Dundee collapsed. 

In 1884 the Distillery merges and is renamed Glenrothes-Glenlivet and in 1887 merges with the Islay Distillery Co. forming Highland Distillers.

Two fires in 1897 and 1922 damaged the distillery, while an explosion in 1903 almost destroyed the distillery. The Wall Street Crash in 1929 decreased production, and the distillery was shut.

However, Glenrothes got back to business in a short time and by 1963, upgrades were made and the distillery expanded to a total of 6 stills, and a further 4 more stills by 1989.

 In 1999 Edrington Group purchased the distillery, but later sold it to Berry Bros & Rudd in 2010.

Tarlogie Springs is the main source of water. They have a 12-ton mash tun, with 6 washbacks having a capacity of 50,000 litres each. There are 5 wash and 5 spirit stills in the distillery, which are known to be the highest stills in Scotch Whisky production.

In 2017 Edrington bought the Glenrothes brand back from Berry Bros. in a bid to accelerate the single malt’s growth in international markets.