MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM
GLENFARCLAS DISTILLERY
!It has been a very busy year here at Glenfarclas with time flying by so quickly we can’t believe its nearly Christmas already! It has been an exciting 12 months for us with lots of new additions and releases. Before we finish for Christmas to enjoy a lovely festive break we wanted to share the highlights of our year. We hope you will join us in enjoying a dram of Glenfarclas whilst you read all about 2023!
2023 Icons of Whisky Scottish Distiller of the Year
We were delighted and honoured to start 2023 being named as Icons of Whisky’s Scottish Distiller of the Year.
During the annual Icons dinner in Edinburgh Douglas Belford, Managing Director and Callum Fraser, Distillery Manager had the honour of accepting the award. It is proudly on display here at the Visitor Centre in recognition of the whole team’s hard work and dedication.
Launch of our 50 Year Old Limited Edition
At the end of last year we announced the global launch of our 50 Year Old Glenfarclas which was released at the beginning of this year. The limited release of 836 bottles at 50% abv coincides with our Chairman John Grant’s 50th year in the Scotch Whisky Industry. These specially selected casks, which have been housed here at Glenfarclas for half a century, have been beautifully presented inside a gold-engraved decanter. It is a stunning dram which has made it’s way around the world with launch events in Switzerland, Canada and Taiwan.Proudly photographed above is our Distillery Manager, Callum (left) with our Chairman John (right) holding our limited release decanter.
Introducing our 35 Year Old Red Warehouse Door Edition
To complete our Red Warehouse Door Collection we have introduced a 35 Year Old Glenfarclas which sits beautifully between our 30 and 40 Year Old expressions. This bottling will be released in limited quantities globally each year. It has already made its way around the world and we are looking forward to the next release in 2024.
For anyone who is curious about the tasting notes of the 35 year old, Callum has created his own set of very enticing tasting notes:
Colour: Beautiful coppery amber.
Nose: Sweet floral toffee notes with hints of leather and waxy green apples.
Taste: Treacle toffee and boiled sweets give way to cocoa powder, soft cinnamon spice, and even a touch of peach.
Finish: Long lasting with a buttery/silky effect deep on the palate.
Lifetime Achievement Award Honour for John Grant
This year’s Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival saw our Chairman John Grant receive the Lifetime Achievement Award during the opening dinner in recognition of more than 50 years of dedication to the Scotch Whisky industry in Speyside.
Since John could not attend the dinner in person, Callum Fraser accepted the award on his behalf and later presented it to John here at Glenfarclas, who said he was “honoured and surprised” by the recognition.
50 Years of the Glenfarclas Visitor Centre
This year marks the 50th anniversary of our Visitor Centre here at Glenfarclas. In 1973 we opened our doors to the public for the first time and have been welcoming visitors from all corners of the world ever since. In honour of this special occasion our Visitor Centre team hosted a dinner in the Ship’s Room during the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival where guests were lucky enough to sample our new 50 year old release and hear all about Glenfarclas through the years.
Photographed above (top) is the Glenfarclas Visitor Centre in the 1970s and on the bottom is the Visitor Centre today.
This month we also released a 2014 Distillery Exclusive bottled at 58.1% abv, which aptly holds cask number 1973. This single cask was specially selected by our Visitor Centre team with only 319 bottles being sold exclusively from our Visitor Centre at £150 per bottle.
One of One Auction
We were delighted to participate in the One of One Auction in support of the Distiller’s Venture. Glenfarclas developed and donated a twin set set of stunning decanters housing single casks from 1967 and 1968 which were presented in a bespoke solid wood ash cabinet. With Sotheby’s estimating the value between £20,000 and £30,000 we were thrilled to see this unique pair make the top end.
Aberdeen Staysure PGA Legends Tour
August was an extremely busy and exciting month for all of us here at Glenfarclas. We were thrilled to be the official Scotch whisky sponsors of the Aberdeen Staysure PGA Legends Tournament. Our entire team got involved throughout the week and we had a lot of fun introducing lots of new people to Glenfarclas!
During the event we offered tastings and the opportunity to test your skills with our brand new whisky inspired mini golf game which was designed specially by our production team.
It was a fantastic week all around from the Celebrity Pro-Am to seeing our very own Murray Drummond represent Glenfarclas in the Alliance Individuals. Throughout the week we had the pleasure of meeting golfing legends and seeing them play the course.
To mark the occasion we bottled a limited PGA 12yo edition. We still have a small number available at our Visitor Centre priced at £60.
As you can see it is has been quite the year for the team here. We are looking forward to many exciting new projects and releases in 2024.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and all the very best for the New Year!
GlenDronach is one of Scotland’s oldest whisky distilleries, dating back to 1826, but it has been sold, shuttered, and resold several times. Its return to production in 2002 was great news for scotch lovers, and today it’s under the direction of Brown-Forman master blender Dr. Rachel Barrie. This newest iteration is a bold, memorable cask strength, sherry-matured whisky that comes alive in the glass with chewy, zippy notes of leather, cedar, and honey, then a wisp of flinty gun – powder accents the sweet finish. This sherry-finished scotch is the kind of drink that cries out for a beautiful cigar on a cold winter night. (DS) 
