Glenfarclas
Glenfarclas means ‘valley of the green grass’ where farmer Robert Hay took out a distillery license in 1836 to finally start distilling 'legal' whisky.
With Hay's passing in 1865, neighbour John Grant bought the distillery for £512 and the Grant family has continued to own it through to today. Strict adherence to maturation in ex-Sherry casks produces a rich whisky capable of extremely long ageing. Further the somewhat cool microclimate limits evaporation losses to 0.05% per annum (versus the industry standard of over 2% per anum). One interesting fact is that Glenfarclas switched its heating methods from direct fire to steam heat in the 1980s. But the distillers did not like the resulting spirit - the the entire distillery was reconverted back to direct fire. Quality is that important to Glenfarclas.
