Glenfarclas

Glenfarclas is a family-owned distillery in the famous Speyside region of Scotland. It produces a Highland single malt Scotch whisky, renowned for maturation in ex-sherry casks from Spain.

The distillery has been owned by the Grant family for six generations.

The distillery produces a sweet, fruity new make spirit.

European oak sherry casks give the mature whisky notes of dried fruits, walnut and chocolate.

Glenfarclas houses the largest stills on Speyside. They were switched to steam coil heating in the 1980s but the change stripped weight from the spirit. Realising the error, the Grants quickly reverted to direct-firing with gas burners.

Each pot still is fitted with a boil ball, which increases reflux and promotes complexity in the spirit.

Maturation takes place in traditional dunnage warehouses. The majority of spirit is aged in fortified wine casks from the Miguel Martin cooperage in Jerez. Most previously held oloroso, though fino has been used and the warehouse also contains some ex-bourbon barrels.

Glenfarclas has one of the most complete inventories of any distillery, with stock dating back to the 1950s.

The distillery produces a core range that includes 10, 15, 21, 25, 30 and 40-year-old bottlings. 

Glenfarclas distillery was founded by farmer, Robert Hay. Though granted a license in 1836, it’s likely that he was distilling for many years prior. When Hay passed away in 1865, the distillery was bought by John Grant.

Grant tasked his son George with running the distillery. When George passed away in 1890, his wife Elsie took over the license. Elsie encouraged her sons John and George to follow in their father's footsteps.

In August of 1896, the Grants entered into a partnership with Pattisons Ltd. The Pattison brothers were renowned whisky blenders who thrived in the late 19th-century whisky boom but ultimately played a key role in the bust that followed. Their shoddy accounting practices landed them both in prison and forced many of their debtors out of business. Glenfarclas managed to survive the fallout but it took the Grants a generation to undo the damage.

Current chairman John Grant joined the company in 1973. His son George is the director of sales and the sixth generation of the family to work at the distillery.

Family ownership has served Glenfarlclas well. Years of reckless over-production in the Scotch industry created the 'whisky loch' of the 1980s. Several distilleries were forced to close but those wily Grants carried on distilling as much as they could afford. When the industry finally began to bounce back in the 1990s, they had more aged stock than many of their peers. As many turned to younger, no age statement bottlings, Glenfarclas continued to release mature whisky at prices few could compete with.

Glenfarclas pioneered the trend for cask strength single malt when they released their 105 bottling in 1968. They were also among the first to open a visitor centre in 1973.

In 2007 Glenfarclas launched the Family Casks series. This collection of single cask releases featured spirit from every year since 1952. New expressions are added annually, though some of the earlier stocks have since run out. The series is an accomplishment that would likely not have been possible at any other distillery. Only the Grants, with their pragmatic approach, could have achieved such a thing.