Scotland, Speyside. Distillery operational. Owner: J&G Grant International. Independent & family-owned

Perhaps due to its status as an independent, family-owned distillery, Glenfarclas is a textbook case when it comes to tracing 70 years of Scotch whisky abroad. In addition to the intrinsic quality of its malt, heavily influenced by sherry cask maturation (until the late 1990s), it is also one of the most interesting brands to collect.In a time when most malt distilleries were producing in the shadow of blending companies (1950), the owners of Glenfarclas crossed sea and ocean to the United States, South Africa and Australia in order to sell their single malt. In the following decade, The Glenfarclas literally flooded the Italian market, which had something of a taste for very young malts (The Glenfarclas 5 Year Old 1971).Paying close attention to its customers' needs, the distillery released numerous bottles and labels, creating a varied range of young and aged versions, sometimes vintages, single casks, small batches and cask strengths, all whilst maintaining its authentic character. This led to a large number of limited editions bearing the name of the bar, restaurant or importer and sometimes even the name of the private client for whom the bottling had been produced.

A single cask (#1942) Glenfarclas Family Cask distilled in 1980 and bottled in 2007. The year before, the distillery released some of the finest single casks in its vaults, all bottled at cask strength, much to the delight of enthusiasts. Glenfarclas has for a long time focused on single malts rather than blends. For that reason, the distillery owns numerous old vintages (up to 1952), some used in the Family Cask range. A limited edition of 681 bottles.