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Glenfarclas Chairman John L.S. Grant and Brand Ambassador George S. Grant at the launch of ‘The Family Casks’ collection at the Caledonian Club |
UK. Family-owned Glenfarclas Distillery formally launched “˜The Family Casks’, an exclusive collection of 43 vintage dated Single Cask Highland malt Scotch whiskies, at the Caledonian Club, London, recently.
The Family Casks is a collection of the best single casks from the distillery’s warehouses, bottled at cask strength and at natural colour. The collection comprises 43 different bottlings, with one for each year from 1952 to 1994.
Unlike mainstream bottlings, which are normally offered at a reduced strength of 40% vol., The Family Casks have been bottled at cask strength, with each bottle in the collection varying from 46.0% vol. for Cask 4913 from 1961 to 65.1% vol. for Cask 1316 from 1968.
The Family Casks have also been bottled at natural colour and are packaged in a bespoke clear flint bottle, with oak gift box. Accompanying each bottle is a booklet with a history of the distillery, written by John L.S. Grant, Chairman and fifth generation of the family that owns and manages Glenfarclas, and tasting notes prepared by George S. Grant, Brand Ambassador, and the sixth generation of the family.
At the tasting guests were first introduced by John L.S. Grant to a selection from the range, with one dram from each of the five decades represented.
“By tasting a selection of whiskies from The Family Casks, one is able to explore not only the differences between the casks but the distillery’s, and my family’s, history,” Grant explained.
After the formal tasting guests were invited to sample from the remainder of the collection. Many of those younger than 56 chose to sample Glenfarclas distilled during the year of their birth. As Director of Sales & Marketing Robert Ransom observed: “If you know anyone who was born, or married, in the last 55 years, a bottle from The Family Casks collection makes an ideal present for them.”
The Family Casks have been offered to Glenfarclas’s network of distributors across Europe, Asia and Canada, including sole UK distributor Pol Roger Ltd. Interest in the collection has been intense, the company said, with two bars quick to order a complete set of 43 bottles – Bar Nemo in Tokyo and, closer to home, The Mash Tun in Aberlour.
Prices for The Family Casks vary from £80 for the 1994 to £1,145 for the 1952 at the distillery’s visitor centre.
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