Eilidh Muir & Kirsten Grant Meikle: The women behind Hazelwood's whisky legacy
Janet Sheed Roberts was the William Grant & Sons matriarch who became Scotland’s oldest person at the age of 110. Now, her descendant Kirsten Grant Meikle and blender Eilidh Muir are honouring her legacy through a unique whisky created for the House of Hazelwood.
As the granddaughter of William Grant himself, Janet Sheed Roberts – fondly remembered as the Wee Janie – played a significant role in the evolution of the family business.
Despite never formerly working in the company, Roberts was the granddaughter, daughter, sister, wife, aunt and great aunt for successive chairmen and managing directors of William Grant & Sons for over a century.
“She was the matriarch,” says Kirsten Grant Meikle, director at William Grant & Sons and fifth generation of the Grant family. “She didn't work in the business but she ruled us all with an iron fist. She was very forthright and very funny, she loved telling jokes. She was always keen to hear what you were doing.”
Born in 1901, Roberts was Scotland’s oldest person when she passed away in 2011 at the age of 110. As well as being the business’ advisor and matriarch she was also a trained lawyer, having been the only woman in her class while studying at Edinburgh University. “She was a proper fighter, standing up against all these men all the time despite only being 4 foot 10,” adds Grant Meikle.
The Long View: Janet Sheed Roberts is the matriarch at the heart of the House of Hazelwood story
Roberts spent most of her time at the family home, Hazelwood House, originally the dower house of nearby Kininvie castle. It was this special, serene yet stately home that inspired the name for a series of limited edition luxury Scotch whiskies, crafted using the family’s private whisky reserves that had been set aside for special occasions.
“Hazelwood House is very much embedded in our family,” explains Grant Meikle. “We’ve a number of properties up on site but it’s the one house we’d all meet at. There was always a lot of music, children and parties going on there, it was a relaxed family time.”
The Family Home
The Hazelwood name was first used for a series of whiskies bottled to mark Roberts’ significant birthdays, starting with Hazelwood Reserve in 1991 for her 90th. “We kept thinking it was end game for the Wee Janie,” recalls Grant Meikle. “We did bottlings for the 90th, then the 95th, 100th, 105th and 110th… we were like hold on a minute, she’s still going.
“The releases would be a desk drop gift to all the employees – if they kept the series and built a set it would be extremely valuable now. I know a few employees who've auctioned the set off and managed to have a nice family holiday. The Wee Janie would have loved to hear that story. Now the Long View will be part of that legacy as well.”
Kirsten Grant Meikle and Eilidh Muir delved into historic whisky stocks to create The Long View
The Long View is House of Hazelwood’s contribution to the Demeter Collection, the OurWhisky Foundation’s fundraising auction held in partnership with Whisky Auctioneer. This one-of-a-kind whisky is a 31-year-old blend constructed around a base of maturing stocks used to create the Hazelwood Centennial blend released in honour of Janet Sheed Roberts’ 100th birthday in 2001.
Behind its creation is Eilidh Muir, blender for the William Grant & Sons portfolio with a special focus on House of Hazelwood. Having studied chemical engineering at Edinburgh University and participated in William Grant’s graduate programme, Muir has been a part of the Hazelwood story since before its relaunch in 2022.
The Demeter Collection
“Having worked throughout the Hazelwood project I had a deep dive into the stocks and what’s there,” recalls Muir. “The company is all about legacy and handing down through generations. We were aware of the parcel that was incorporated into the 100th birthday celebration, so we thought it would be nice to take that and build on it.”
To the original blend, which had been recasked to continue to mature over time, Muir added two further parcels of aged grain whisky, one matured entirely in ex-Bourbon barrels and the other in ex-Sherry butts.
“It’s nice to be able to support the collection with a liquid that ties nicely into the matriarch of the family and business,” Muir explains. “I feel so fortunate to be in this role and to do justice to everyone who’s been involved. It’s usually one person’s name as the blender or headline, but actually it took multiple people to get that liquid to where it is today. From producing it to analysing it and bottling it. It’s such a nice base parcel because it was put together to celebrate a female family member.”
Legacy bottle: Eilidh Muir hopes The Long View will help highlight the role of women in whisky’s story
Grant Meikle adds: “Eilidh is being modest but I know lot of people in the family would love this particular whisky and to build on that centennial liquid is just a beautiful thing. It’s quite an emotional one for us all.”
The Long View is truly a legacy piece, a unique bottle that celebrates the past, present and future of House of Hazelwood. For Muir, it not only represents an opportunity to be a part of Roberts’ story, but to start her own legacy.
“I hope through the Demeter Collection and in supporting the OurWhisky Foundation, that if seeing a female blender inspires one woman or girl to apply for a job in the whisky industry, particularly in operations which is where my heart lies, that would be a success in itself. Hopefully it draws women in and inspires them. That’s probably the biggest compliment you can have, someone saying 'its because of you that I came into this’.”
Grant Meikle is quick to confirm that were the Wee Janie alive today, she’d be proud of Muir’s creation of The Long View. “In terms of the whisky’s aim to support women in the industry, she’d be really happy with it. I know that, because I’ve seen her like that. She’d want you to get as much money as you can for it.”
The Demeter Collection auction will run 29 March - 8 April 2024 at whiskyauctioneer.com.
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