Glenfarclas

Type: Distillery

Glenfarclas is a distillery in Ballindalloch, Speyside, at the foot of Ben Rinnes. Its address is Ballindalloch, Banffshire, AB37 9BD. There is evidence that distilling began here before 1791, although the first licence was granted in 1836, to Robert Hay. John Grant acquired the distillery in 1865, so that year marks the beginning of the Grant connection, not the beginning of licensed distilling at Glenfarclas.

Origins and family ownership

On 8 June 1865 John Grant took the tenancy of Rechlerich Farm and bought the distillery with it. A cattle breeder, he used the farm as a halfway stop between his Glenlivet farm and the Elgin cattle market. The producer's account places the acquisition within that farming story, rather than presenting 1865 as the date on which distilling began.

Grant let the distillery to John Smith, who later founded Cragganmore. When Smith left in 1870, Grant took his son George into partnership. George married Elsie Gordon in the same year. The producer also tells a story of cattle drovers and workmen enjoying a dram of Glenfarclas. This is a legend in the family account, rather than a detail that can be independently established here.

John Grant died in 1889, followed by George in 1890. The licence then passed to George's widow Elsie and their two eldest sons, John and George. This succession is part of the family history, but the Glenfarclas Grants are a separate family line from the Grants of Glenfiddich. The shared surname does not mean the two families are related.

In the 1890s a distillery company was formed with Pattisons of Leith, with a 50% interest. One account gives August 1896 as the partnership date. The producer says rebuilding the finances took 15 years, after which the family formed J. & G. Grant. The name of the earlier company should not be confused with John Grant's Glenlivet farm, which features separately in the account of his acquisition.

John retired in 1913, leaving George as sole proprietor. In 1921 George married Jessie Stuart Scott, and their sons were George Scott Grant and John Peter Grant. The business became a private limited company in 1947. These dates trace changes in the family and the business after the period of rebuilding described by the producer.

The producer's history follows the family through successive changes in the licence and ownership. Elsie and her sons held the licence after George's death, while the later company was formed after the period of rebuilding. John retired in 1913 and George became sole proprietor, before the business became a private limited company in 1947. Those events should not be compressed into a single transfer in 1865: the acquisition was only one stage in the family and business history.

Production and change

In the 1950s, the repeal of the 1880s Spirits Act and the end of barley rationing allowed production to rise sharply, according to the producer. Later, in the late 1960s, the distillery faced a setback involving whisky for blending. The producer says a major blending contract was lost, and that more stock was consequently laid down for Glenfarclas bottlings of its own.

Difford's Guide gives a more specific account: it says the Distillers Company wrote in 1968 that it would not buy Glenfarclas for blending, although it later did. The accounts are not identical, so the precise circumstances should be treated as disputed. What the producer's account does establish is its explanation for laying down more stock for its own bottlings.

The producer's account and the trade account agree that blending is central to the story, but their wording differs. The producer describes a lost major contract; Difford's describes a letter and says the company later bought Glenfarclas for blending. Neither wording should be replaced with a more definite version that the accounts do not support. The resulting account of stock for Glenfarclas bottlings is the producer's explanation, rather than a reason to ignore the difference between the two descriptions.

Glenfarclas 105 was launched in 1968 at 60% ABV. It belongs to the same period as the reported change in the blending relationship, but the available account does not establish that the launch was caused by that change. Nor is the claim that 105 was the first commercially released cask strength single malt reliably established in the material used here.

Stills and fermentation

The distillery has six stills in three pairs. They are described as the largest stills on Speyside and are all fired directly by gas. That is an important correction to the assumption that Glenfarclas heats its stills with steam. The wash stills have copper chain rummagers to prevent scorching, a detail associated with their direct heating.

A steam heating trial did take place in 1981, when one still was tried on steam. It was switched back within weeks because the spirit produced during the trial was weaker and blander. The documented trial explains why steam is part of the distillery's story even though all six stills are now directly fired by gas.

Accounts differ on when the stills were expanded. One gives an increase from two to four in 1959 and to six in 1975; another gives 1960 and 1976 for the increases to four and six. These dates should therefore be read as alternatives, not combined into a single certain timeline. Both accounts nevertheless describe expansion to the present six stills.

The reported still sizes also differ. One account gives about 23,000 litres for the wash stills and 21,000 for the spirit stills. Another gives 26,500 and 21,200 litres respectively. The disagreement matters when quoting exact capacities: the distillery's stills are described as the largest on Speyside, but the two sets of figures should not be presented as though they were the same measurement.

Fermentation averages 106 hours, and spirit is filled into cask at 63.5%. These figures describe different stages: the first is a duration, while the second is the strength at filling. Sherry casks have come from the José Miguel Martín bodega since 1988. That supplier detail is distinct from the account of stock laid down for the distillery's own bottlings in the late 1960s.

Accounts of the Family Casks also differ on the date of their introduction. One gives 2006 as the year of first bottling, while another gives 2007 as the release year. Bottling and release are different events, but the supplied accounts are treated as disputed, so neither year should be presented here as a settled date for both. The sherry cask supplier and the date given for that relationship are separate facts from this question about Family Casks.

Visitors and family leadership

The visitor centre opened in 1973. Its Ship's Room has panelling from the liner SS Empress of Australia. Together, the centre and the room offer two distinct details about Glenfarclas: the date on which the visitor centre opened and the origin of a feature within it. The supplied history does not establish further visitor arrangements.

Sources disagree on when John L.S. Grant joined. One gives 1973; the producer's account places his arrival a year after the visitor centre opened, which points to 1974. The visitor centre's opening date is therefore useful context, but the joining date remains disputed. In 2002 John L.S. Grant became chairman.

George S. Grant was chairman for 52 years. In 1986 Glenfarclas marked the 150th anniversary of legal distilling there, counting from the licence granted in 1836. That anniversary does not rule out the evidence for earlier distilling before 1791. It marks the licensed history rather than a claim that no distilling took place beforehand.

Understanding the dates

Several dates in the Glenfarclas story describe different events. The evidence for distilling before 1791 predates Robert Hay's licence in 1836. The Grant purchase followed in 1865, and the visitor centre opened in 1973. Each date answers a different question: when distilling is evidenced, when a licence was granted, when the Grants acquired the distillery, or when the visitor centre opened.

There is a similar distinction between a documented episode, a disputed account and a legend. The steam trial was documented as having ended within weeks. The dates for the still expansion and John L.S. Grant's arrival differ between accounts. The story of drovers and workmen enjoying a dram is a legend in the producer's history. Treating these categories separately keeps the account from giving every detail the same level of certainty.

Sources

1. Glenfarclas. Family.
2. Wikipedia. Glenfarclas distillery.
3. Difford's Guide. History: Glenfarclas Distillery (J&G Grant).
4. The Single Cask. Glenfarclas Distillery Guide.
5. Maltspedia. Glenfarclas Distillery.
6. Scottish Outposts. Glenfarclas Distillery, Speyside.
7. WSKY1. Glenfarclas collecting guide.