Glen Ord is located just three miles north of the once thriving seaport at Beauly, on the East coast of Northern Highlands, a gateway to whisky markets around the world and in close proximity to the fertile fields on the Black Isle (which is actually not an island at all, but a local peninsula that juts out into the Moray Firth). The Black Isle area saw the rise and the demise of several distilleries, of which Glen Ord is today the sole survivor.

Founded in 1838 by Robert Johnstone and Donald McLennan, Glen Ord changed ownership several times, until James Watson, an experienced blender and owner of the Old Pulteney Distillery purchased it in 1896 and start market it as a single malt. The distillery closed during World War-I and was bankrupt in 1923, before John Dewar acquired it and revived its fortunes. It is now part of the Diageo group.

The whisky marketed by the distillery appeared in several different brand names during the last years: Glen Oran, Glen Ordie and Glen Ord.

A mere 10% of the production is marketed as single malt, which are generally regarded to be good value for their quality, and in 2007 the distillery’s whisky was chosen for the ‘Singleton’ range, along with Glendullan and Dufftown malts. The idea of the ‘Singleton’ range is to provide single malt whiskies for various areas in the world: for example, Glen Ord Singleton is primarily aimed at an Asian market.