Glenfarclas 1980 38 yo Winter 2018 cask 1916 70cl 43.3°

Amongst the few genuinely independent Scottish distilleries, Glenfarclas is the most envied for its autonomy.

Since 1865, the history of Glenfarclas has been deeply intertwined with the history of the Grant’s family. On June 8, 1865, John Grant became tenant of the Rechlerich farm and bought the Glenfarclas distillery, founded in 1836, for £511.19.

Today Glenfarclas is one of the few entirely independent family-run distilleries. Whiskies produced by the distillery are widely recognized by the discerning palates and ranked amongst the first Speyside whiskies. The Grant’s family motto, today represented by the 5^th and 6^th generation, is to create “a pure and perfect Scotch Highland whisky in the traditional Speyside style”. The name Glenfarclas means “the valley of the green grass” and the distillery is located about 1.5km away from the Spey, near Marypark village.

Glenfarclas kept the same stills than those used back in 1836 : 6 stills amongst the biggest of Speyside. The Sherry influence is remarkable: Glenfarclas has uncompromising values when investing in the best Sherry casks, and owns today near than 68000 casks, ageing in 32 different warehouses. These are Spanish casks of Oloroso and Fino Sherry, charred so as to coax out all of the vanilla flavor and sweeten the whisky. Glenfarclas has been developing vintage casks every year since 1952 until today. Each vintage reveals unique character and aromas, from the delicate freshness of a 10 year-old whisky to a sweet 30 year-old  Single Malt.

The official release of the Family Casks in 2008 made history: the range offers not less than 43 vintage bottlings, from 1952 to 1994, each being single casks bottled at cask strength.

In 2016, when participating to the San Francisco World Spirits Competition 2016, Glenfarclas has been voted Best Scotch Single Malt Distillery. 39 experts from the World Spirits Industry rewarded the Glenfarclas Distillery with 6 medals attributed to various whiskies.