Glenfarclas Family Cask Collection

Glenfarclas Distillery

In a world where distilleries change hands rapidly in response to the market, Glenfarclas stands out for remaining a family business for more than 150 years. The distillery was officially founded by Robert Hay in 1836 in the heart of Speyside at Ballindoch. But it had likely been operating as an illicit farm distillery prior to that. Water for the distillery comes from springs rising in the Ben Rinnes mountains. Hay died in 1865 and the distillery was bought by John Grant and his son George, starting a legacy that has endured for six generations. J. & G. Grant Ltd was formed in 1870 after a brief experiment leasing the distillery to John Smith, who left to found Cragganmore.

Ownership and operation of Glenfarclas would continue from one Grant to the next from here on. John Grant died in 1889, and George followed the next year. George’s wife Elsie held the licence then and the distillery was run by their sons, also called John and George Grant. Glenfarclas got into serious financial difficulties in 1898 during the infamous Pattison crash. The Grants had in fact formed a partnership with Pattison, Elder & Co three years prior to this. But they survived the crash that wiped out many other distilleries by selling off their warehoused whisky

In almost a direct rebuttal of that scenario, when the whisky industry was suffering in the 1980s Glenfarclas decided to ramp up production. This meant that when the market recovered they had stock to spare. More than 100,000 casks are now kept in 38 warehouses on site to age into Glenfarclas whisky

Considered one of the finest distilleries in Speyside, Glenfarclas single malts are heavy in style and almost exclusively matured in sherry casks.