Glenfarclas 105 Cask Strength Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Glenfarclas, now owned by J. & G. Grant, is a long-established family-run distillery in the Speyside region of Scotland, UK.

‘Glenfarclas’ means ‘grassy valley’ and symbolises a wide expanse of pastureland, which is recorded to have been dotted with unlicensed distilleries as early as the 1890s, including Glenfarclas. It is recorded that as early as the 1890s there were a number of unlicensed distilleries operating on this pasture, including Glenfarclas, and that in 1836, the thirteenth year after the Excise Act, Robert Hay, the original owner of Glenfarclas, obtained a legal licence to operate. On the death of Robert Hay in 1865, John Grant purchased Glenfarclas for 511.19 old pounds sterling (£sd, an old pound sterling was 240 pence at that time) and handed it over to the care of his distant cousin, John Smith. The distillery has been in the hands of the Grant family ever since, and when John Grant and his son George G. Grant died in 1889-1890, George G. Grant's wife, Elsie, became the heir to Glenfarclas, and Elsie passed the management of the distillery to her two sons, John and Elsie, shortly afterwards. In the 1890s, at the height of the whisky boom, brothers John and George formed the Glenfarclas-Glenlivet Distillery Company with Pattisons Ltd. Unfortunately, the co-operation ended in failure and the Grant family suffered a huge financial loss. After 15 years of struggle, the Grant brothers returned to the business and founded J. & G. Grant.

In the late 1960s, George Scott Grant, then Chairman of Glenfarclas, decided to increase the amount of whisky stored in the distillery at a time when demand for whisky was declining, with a view to bottling it as Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, which led to the creation of Glenfarclas' unique product line, The Family Casks. In 1974, George Scott Grant's son, John L.S. Grant, became involved in the family business and in 2002 took over as Director of Glenfarclas. George S. Grant joined the family business in 2000 as a sixth-generation heir apparent. Today he is Glenfarclas Sales Director and runs the historic and prestigious distillery alongside his father, John L.S. Grant.

One of the hallmarks of Glenfarclas' whisky production is the very traditional process of Direct Fire distillation, where gas is used as a heat source to heat the stills. In fact, Glenfarclas experimented with steam distillation in 1981, but the result was a whisky with a very different flavour. In order to maintain its distinctive style, Glenfarclas has decided to continue with the traditional process of direct-fire distillation, where the richness of the flavour is balanced by the fruity, tannic taste of the whisky as it ages in the Sherry Cask.