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 13 year old distilled in 1990 and bottled by Cadenhead in 2003, matured in bourbon hogsheads. Cadenhead was founded in 1842 by George Duncan, who was quickly joined by William Cadenhead who renamed the business after Duncan’’s death in 1858. When Cadenhead in turn passed away in 1904, his nephew Robert Duthie took over and turned the business into the independent bottler it is today. After Duthie, it was managed by one of his employees, Ann Olivier, whose stubborn approach to running the business led to much of the stock having to be sold at auction by Christie’’s (London) in 1972 to feed the kitty and save the business. It was then sold to J. & A. Mitchell and Co, who also owned Springbank, and moved to Campbeltown. Launched in the 1990s, the Authentic Collection marked the end of the previous two decades of bottlings at 46%, instead favouring cask strength releases. It became Cadenhead’’s main range. A limited edition of 288 bottles.