Alexander Grant "Sandy" Gordon, CBE (6 May 1931 – 21 December 2020) was a Scottish distiller who was credited with creating a global market for single malt Scotch whisky.
He wanted to pursue a career in law or in aircraft design, but his father's diagnosis with colorectal cancer and later death prompted him to return and join the family distilling company.
[1][2] Gordon started out in his family's distilling company after his graduate studies in 1954 and was initially allocated managing sales for the Africa market.
[2] He was credited with creation of single malt as a category of whiskies in 1963 and his efforts in creating a global market for Glenfiddich outside of Scotland, where it was not sold earlier.
[1] He was noted for his ability to forecast trends, particularly in the 1980s when strict laws against drinking coupled with high taxes caused a global slump in sales, and later there was a revival spurred by media depictions of scotch.
[3][1] He was also a pioneer of whisky tourism, with his setting up of the first visitor centre for Glennfiddich Distillery in Dufftown in Scotland.
In the early 1990s, he had made contributions as the chairman of the trust, toward the building of the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.