Travel the wonderful world of whisk(e)y!

Here is your friendly reminder of some of the incredible whisk(e)y available from outside the boundaries of Scotch. Expand your horizons with a dram from the legendary Yamazaki, an Irish favourite from Bushmills or in search of the perfect Old Fashioned with Woodford Reserve. There are plenty to choose from so have a look at our extensive range!

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Glenfarclas Donates to Moray Food Plus

Whilst this has been an unusual year for everyone, we are thrilled to be back welcoming visitors to our distillery with both tours and tastings. It has been great to have our distillery visits back up and running where we have been able to welcome visitors from all around the world. In accordance with government guidelines, we have enjoyed running our full tours.

The Glenfarclas team have continued their fundraising efforts for Moray Food Plus over the past six months with tour charges being replaced by donation requests following the reintroduction of distillery visits. It is safe to say that we could not have predicted the overwhelming response, support and generosity from our visitors. Distillery Manager Callum Fraser hosted a special manager’s tour for his birthday (which happened to be during the whisky festival) and all proceeds of this special tour went to Moray Food Plus as part of the donations. We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who visited for their contributions and we are very excited to announce that the grand total raised was an amazing £16,580.94. The cheque was presented to Mairi McCallum from Moray Food Plus by our Visitor Centre Manager Matthew Porritt on Wednesday 8th December. Overseeing the handover was Major General Seymour Monro (Lord-Lieutenant of Moray) and Patricia Seligman (Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Banffshire). Proudly photographed at the cheque handover are Suzanne, Kirstin, Steve and Lauren who were all involved alongside Donna (not photographed) in persuading visitors to part with their cash for such a good cause. Despite the Covid-19 restrictions the Visitor Centre has had a fantastic season and we are looking forward to welcoming back guests to Glenfarclas in the New Year.

Since our reopening announcement we have had a very busy second half of the year and have been thrilled to be able to host and attend a number of events. In August we had an unexpected visit from some very special guests who were raising money for Police Care UK and The Fire Fighters Charity by walking over 600 miles from Gloucestershire to Elgin. The Glenfarclas team had a lot of fun welcoming William, Millie and Boo Boo and even got the chance to feed them some of our very own draff.

As per tradition Glenfarclas Distillery put forward its team for the Dramathon who ended up winning the We Dram relay. On behalf of Glenfarclas we would like to say a massive well done to both our team and those who participated in this annual event.

November was a very exciting month for us with the return of the rescheduled in-person Speyside Whisky Festival. As well as welcoming visitors to the distillery and attending tastings we were very excited to find out that we won overall best whisky at the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Awards from 2020 which was accepted by Callum at a launch event in October.

On the topic of awards, we are also thrilled to be able to announce that we also took away a bronze award from the Fields of Whisky Challenge which was accepted on behalf of Glenfarclas by our very own Deborah Stewart.

December has been a busy end to the year for us with our specially designed 1965 decanter and crystal tumblers which are housed in a beautiful rose wood box going to the Distillers One of One Auction. The auction was in aid of disadvantaged young people in Scotland and is led by The Worshipful Company of Distillers. This unique, one of kind whisky and decanter exceeded expectations and raised a total of £17,000.

We are also very excited to announce that our Chairman John Grant has been inducted into the Whisky Magazine’s Hall of Fame. This very prestigious honour was accepted by John himself at the award ceremony held in Edinburgh at the Balmoral Hotel. Please join us in congratulating him on his success.

As the year draws to a close, we would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Mark, Scott and Niall, who are the three new faces that have joined the Glenfarclas team and will be involved in the production of our Glenfarclas spirit. Whilst we have made new and exciting changes our vision to produce traditional Highland Single Malt Whiskies remains the same. We would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Years from everyone here at Glenfarclas.

Introducing Mark who has joined us in the Mash House as an operator.

Please welcome Scott who has taken on the role of Bio plant operator.

And last but not least Niall, who is our newest Still House operator.

I hope you are well and relatively stress-free!

Just a very quick note from myself and Amanda to say have a great festive period and an excellent New Year. All the best to you and your families going into 2022. Thanks once again for your support and patience through this continuing situation, and our one wish is that we can continue to reconnect with in-person events!

See you next year!

Slainte!

Eddie & Amanda

The Whisky Lounge Team

This Christmas, on behalf of everyone at the Isle of Harris Distillery, please accept our thanks for following our story and supporting our island enterprise. We have lots to look forward to in 2022, but for now the copper stills lie silent and the home fires are lit as we spend time with family and close friends.

Wishing you and yours a peaceful festive season and a very Happy Christmas.

Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ùr!

Mike Donald
Isle of Harris Distillery Storytelle

As 2021 comes to an end, I find I have mixed feelings about the year that was and the year to come. 2021 seems to have come and gone in a flash and it is hard to remember just how long ago it was that Covid arrived on our shores and put a spanner in our daily lives.

The year started with home schooling – something I maanged to side step after day 1 as my teaching methods were considered archaic by my 7 yr daughter and she claimed it wasn’t right to explain that her teachers method of multiplication was ridiculous… I very quickly passed the baton to Katy who appeared to have the patience of a saint whilst coaxing 2 children into doing a bit of work.

Lockdown continued until late March when we were finally allowed to fire up the bbq for outdoor parties of 6. Very cold parties but so joyful; who knew one could be so pathetically grateful for standing in the freezing cold with some good friends sharing a drink or two.

The distillery luckily has oodles of space and as a result the production team continued to make whisky for the most part, whilst also allowing social distancing at work. The retail team had a room each and kept the web orders flowing which was a godsend – so many thanks to all those customers who kept ordering and as a result allowed us to keep our head above water in these tricky times. Our exports continued to be despatched throughout the year, although lorries to and from Europe became incredibly hard to find; at one point it was noticeably easier to send whisky to China than to France.. didn’t see that coming and still not sure if Brexit or Covid to blame.

Our team at the distillery has waved goodbye to David; after 15years he has decided the time has come to take a well-earned retirement from distilling and move on to new ventures – we all wish him well. We have very sadly learned of the passing of Iain Henderson, our 1^st distiller back when we built St Georges; after a lifetime of distilling, most famously heading up Laphroaig, he leaves a legacy behind that will last for many generations. We welcome Philip to the team, who has come to look after the warehousing side of the business; Helen & Jenny who are working in the retail team & Susan who has taken over the accountant role.

The distillery restaurant was allowed to start feeding people outside in April and with the help of a cool stretch tent and some blankets did a great job of keeping all the visitors safe and warm. They are now opening on Thurs/Fri & Sat nights (do check opening hours in the xmas / new year period before visiting), so those of you that haven’t been – it is definitely worth a try!

As the year progressed it seemed as though life was returning to normal.  Vaccines received and then a bout of Covid that did little damage meant my family felt secure to venture out, go to events etc. The same must have been true of lots of you as the distillery got steadily busier and busier since tours resumed in May. Friends took holidays here & abroad, with talk of ski trips in the coming winter.. conversations started to be more about the future than the past BUT then it arrived, Omicron was duly named (what happened to the 10 variants between delta and omicron?); this super spreader has not only arrived but almost immediately changed the optimistic outlook of those around us. We have seen cancelled bookings and a change to conversations – reverting to what restrictions might happen instead of the optimistic plan making of only a month ago. I am more upbeat.. get boosted and look forward to a lovely Christmas holiday with family and friends; we will be here in the New Year to welcome you back to the distillery either in person or online.

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year.

To all our friends, customers, suppliers, well wishers, acquaintances, complete strangers, friendly rivals, mortal enemies, aspiring anti-mask litigants, Zoom pals, and drinkin’ buddies.

Please note we will be closed December 25 & 26 to recover from the last 12 months.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

• Your friends at Kensington Wine Market