An Aberdeen grocer
John Forrest opened a grocery and wine merchants at 47 Castle Street, Aberdeen, in 1801.2,3,4 James Chivas joined the next owner, William Edward, in 1838 and became a partner.2,3 After Edward died in 1841, James ran the business with grocer Charles Stewart as Stewart and Chivas.2,3 In 1843 the shop won a Royal Warrant, the right to supply goods to Queen Victoria.2,3,7 In 1854 it launched its first blended malt Scotch whisky, Royal Glen Dee, made by blending chosen malt whiskies.2 Stewart left in 1857, and John Chivas joined his brother, giving the firm the Chivas Brothers name.1,2,3
After the family
John Chivas died in 1862, and when James died in 1886 the business passed to his eldest son, Alexander.3 Alexander died in 1893, the last of the family in the firm, which kept the Chivas Brothers name.2,3 In 1895 Alexander Smith and Charles Stewart Howard bought out the trustees and the family, and put more weight on whisky.2,3 Howard created Chivas Regal in 1909, a 25-year-old blend launched in the United States.1,2,3
Brokers, then Seagram
Howard and Smith both died in 1935, and in 1936 the last partner sold the firm to brokers Stanley P. Morrison and R.D. Lundie.2,3,8 The buyers sold Howard's whisky stocks for £149,000 to pay for the purchase.2,3,8 In 1949 Sam Bronfman's Seagram, the Canadian drinks group, bought the war-weakened firm from Lundie for £85,070.3,4,9 In 1950 broker Jimmy Barclay bought Milton distillery in Keith for Seagram; as Strathisla, it became the home of Chivas Regal.2,9,10 For Queen Elizabeth II's coronation in 1953, master blender Charles Julian created Royal Salute, a 21-year-old blend.11,12
Building and buying distilleries
In 1957 work began on Glen Keith, close to Strathisla and the first distillery the firm built.1,4,13 Rising whisky sales led the firm to build Braes of Glenlivet, now Braeval, in 1973, and Allt-a-Bhainne in 1975, for more malt whisky.4,9 In 1978 Seagram bought The Glenlivet Distillers, owner of The Glenlivet, Glen Grant, Longmorn, Caperdonich and BenRiach; other sources say 1977.4,9,14 Seagram held it beside Chivas Brothers among its Scottish businesses.4,9,14
Part of Pernod Ricard
In 2001 Pernod Ricard and Diageo bought Seagram's drinks business, and Pernod Ricard took the Chivas Brothers Scotch whisky operations.1,4,5 The same year, the whiskies of Pernod Ricard's own Scotch firm, Campbell Distillers, owner of Aberlour and GlenAllachie, were merged with those of Chivas Brothers.15 Pernod Ricard closed Caperdonich in 2002, a year after taking it over.14,16 BenRiach was sold to The BenRiach Distillery Company in 2003, and Christian Porta became chairman and chief executive in 2004.14,17 In 2005 Pernod Ricard bought Allied Domecq, whose Scotch distilleries and brands, led by Ballantine's, joined Chivas Brothers.4,5,12 That deal also brought Ballantine's master blender Sandy Hyslop into the firm.4,5,12 To meet a European Commission condition of the deal, Pernod Ricard agreed in December 2005 to sell Glen Grant, with its distillery, to Campari.18 In 2006 The Glenlivet and Longmorn distilleries moved into the Chivas Brothers portfolio.14 GlenDronach, which passed to Chivas Brothers in 2006, was sold to the BenRiach Distillery Company in 2008.19
New stills and new leaders
Glen Keith, which had stood idle since it was mothballed in 1999, reopened in June 2013 after rebuilding work.13 Laurent Lacassagne took over from Christian Porta as chairman and chief executive in 2013.17,20 Dalmunach began making whisky in 2014 on the site of the Imperial distillery and officially opened in June 2015.1,4,6 It completed an investment package that raised the firm's malt whisky distilling capacity by 17%.1,4,6 In 2016 Sandy Hyslop became director of blending, and Chivas Regal master blender Colin Scott stepped back to mentor that brand's blending team.12,21 In November 2016 the firm announced it would close its Paisley bottling plant and move 460 workers to a new £40m site at Kilmalid, Dumbarton.22 In 2017 the firm sold GlenAllachie distillery to Billy Walker, Graham Stevenson and Trisha Savage.23 Jean-Christophe Coutures, head of Irish Distillers, replaced Lacassagne as chairman and chief executive on 1 July 2018.20,24 Jean-Etienne Gourgues became chairman and chief executive in July 2021.25,26 In 2022 the firm announced an £88 million plan to double Aberlour's capacity and build a new distillery beside Miltonduff.1,27 That year Pernod Ricard also agreed to sell the Tormore brand and distillery to Elixir Distillers.28 In October 2023 it unveiled plans for its first Islay distillery, on Gartbreck Farm by Loch Indaal, to make peated single malt.2,29 In December 2025 blending manager Kevin Balmforth succeeded Sandy Hyslop as master blender.12