Speyside > Glenfarclas

Glenfarclas Distillery was built in 1836 by a tenant farmer by the name of Robert Hay. When Robert Hay died in 1865, the distillery was taken over by John Grant. For the five first years of ownership John Grant rented the distillery out. Then John Grant ran the distillery with his son George who died only one year after his father. His wife Barbara inherited the distillery licence, and his two sons John and George Grant took over the family business. Grant sold a 50% share of the distillery in 1896 to Pattison Elder & Company to finance the alteration work at the distillery. The distillery was virtually rebuilt in 1897 using the money from Pattison. Despite honest sharing of the Glenfarclas profits, Pattison went bankrupt in 1899, and the distillery once again became the exclusive property of the Grants. The production capacity was doubled in 1960. Two more stills were installed in 1976. The current manager, John, is the fifth generation of Grants to manage Glenfarclas. Glenfarclas is one of the few independent and family distilleries left in Scotland today. The distillery was one of the first distilleries to market a cask strength version of its malt, the Glenfarclas 105 that is highly rated by whisky drinkers. Nearly half of the production is marketed as single malt, the remaining part is used in blends.

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