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 Glenfarclas 2002 sherry cask bottled for the Family Malt range in 2013. Glenfarclas’’ vaults are home to many old vintage casks from the distillery, charting its history from 1952 to the present day, without interruption. In 2006, it launched the Family Cask range, a selection of the finest casks from this stock. The Family Malt is a more accessible range featuring vintage single malt whiskies blended from several casks and bottled at 43% ABV, unlike the Family Cask, which only features single malts bottled at cask strength.