While the family behind William Grant & Sons remains the richest in the UK spirits industry, a year of acquisitions and divestments has dramatically changed the wider line-up, according to The Sunday Times Rich List 2017.

Alex Nicol (left), founder of Spencerfield Spirit Company, and Leonard Russell (right), managing director of Ian Macleod Distillers

With profits after tax soaring 8.9% in 2015/16, the William Grant & Sons business was always going to keep the owning Grant-Gordon family head and shoulders ahead of the UK spirits pack when it comes to wealth.

Reported sales climbed 6.1% to £882.5 million (US$1.14 billion), led by Hendrick’s gin and Glenfiddich Scotch, which reclaimed its title of best-selling single malt from Glenfiddich in 2016.

While the Grant-Gordon family remains dominant, others saw their fortunes slide. Last year’s sixth richest UK spirits family, Malcolm and Duncan MacKinnon and family slipped out of the annual Rich List round-up of the wealthiest 1,000 Brits. John Rudd and his brood, the family behind Berry Bros & Rudd, suffered the same fate with the business reporting tumbling profits and turnover in 2015.

Which individuals and families made it onto the Rich List in their place? Read on to discover the wealthiest spirits purveyors in the UK, according to The Sunday Times…

7. Leonard Russell and family

Worth: £122m (US$158m)

Rank in The Sunday Times Rich List 2017: 896

2016 spirits rank: New entry

The third-generation face behind Ian Macleod Distillers is a new entry in the 2017 rich list following a bumper year which saw it shift more than 15 million bottles of spirits.

Known for its Glengoyne, Tamdhu and Smokehead Scotch brands, Ian Macleod entered the gin fray in 2016 when it snapped up Edinburgh Gin-maker Spencerfield Spirit for an undisclosed sum.

Despite splashing the cash to take on a whole new category, Leonard Russell, the managing director at the firm, still saw his wealth reach £122m to secure him a spot on the Rich List.

=5. Joe Sloan and family

Worth: £130m (US$169m)

Rank in The Sunday Times Rich List 2017: =840

2016 spirits rank: New entry

Belfast-based drinks marketing and distribution firm SHS was founded in 1975 by Joe Sloan and his late business partner Geoff Salters. In spirits circles the business is best known for its ready-to-drink (RTD) brand WKD which has undergone a “reinvention” drive in recent years.

Sloan holds a 50% stake in the business, which saw its 2015/16 profits climb to £21.1m on £379.4m (US$492m) sales. With its assets, the firm is valued at £210m (US$272.3m).

=5. Brenda Salters and family

Worth: £130m (US$169m)

Rank in The Sunday Times Rich List 2017: =840

2016 spirits rank: New entry

When Joe Sloan’s business partner and SHS’ co-founder Geoff Salters passed away in 2009, his wife Brenda took on his half of the business and remains on the board today.

Although Geoff Salters reportedly left school with no qualifications, he went on to become an accountant and found the WKD-maker. Today the business employs over 80 full-time staff, plus another 80 at its Bottlegreen Drinks and Caledonian Bottlers production plants.

4. Aaron and Tania Hillman and family

Worth: £177m (US$229m)
Rank in The Sunday Times Rich List 2017: 640

2017 spirits rank: 3

Despite seeing turnover slip to from £55m (US$71.3m) to £53.3m (US$69.1m), the siblings behind Scotch business Angus Dundee Distillers actually saw their wealth climb £2m to £177m (US$229m).

As well as peddling proprietary Speyside single malts Tomintoul and Glencadam, the Angus Dundee business also spans bulk and own-label production, where it offers blended Scotch, blended malt and blended grain liquid.

3. Charles Rolls

Worth: £209m (US$270.9m)
Rank in The Sunday Times Rich List 2017: 549

2017 spirits rank: 4

A plenteous year for premium tonic and mixer brand Fever-Tree propelled co-founder and executive deputy chairman Charles Roll’s wealth to £209m (US$270.9m), up by a mammoth £76m (US$98.5m).

While Fever-Tree was floated on the stock market in 2014, Rolls retails a 15.1% stake, handy when full-year revenues grow 73% to hit £102.2 million and operating profits more than double, as they did in the firm’s 2016 fiscal year.

In a March trading update, Rolls said he will transition to non-executive deputy chairman at the AGM in May 2017.

2. Vivian Imerman

Worth: £390m (US$505.7m)
Rank in The Sunday Times Rich List 2017: 307

2017 spirits rank: 2 

Clearly a perspicacious businessman, Vivian Imerman made a chunk of his £390m (US$505.7m) fortune when Scotch whisky business Whyte & Mackay, which he ran as CEO, was sold to United Spirits in 2007.

Since then he has further feathered his fortune through his investment group Vasari and property sales, however a nocuous divorce last year cost him £15m, according to The Sunday Times.

1. The Grant-Gordon Family

Worth: £2.37bn (US$3.07bn)

Rank in The Sunday Times Rich List 2017: 50

2017 spirits rank: 1

By far the richest family in the UK spirits game, the Grant-Gordon clan, whose portfolio spans Glenfiddich and The Balvenie single malt Scotches, Grants blended Scotch, Hendrick’s gin, Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey, Sailor Jerry rum and now Drambuie liqueur, added £210m (US$272.3m) to their wealth in 2016.

The only immediate family member to play an active part in the business is fifth-generation Kirsten Grant Meikle (pictured), the great-great-granddaughter of founder William Grant, who today serves as director of Prestige.

“I didn’t always think I would go into the family business,” she told The Spirits Business last year. “It was something my uncle (the late Charles Grant Gordon) decided he wanted me to do.”

She added: “It’s about long-term planning and our planning cycles are for 20, 30, 40 years. We consider ourselves to be custodians of the brand, not owners of the business. Our job is to pick up the business and pass on to the next generation in a better state than we found it in.”