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Glenfarclas distillery

Famous (or infamous) for being the preferred tipple of Margaret Thatcher and the cask that kickstarted the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Glenfarclas is a Speyside distillery known primarily for it’s almost exclusive use of Sherry casks. The distilleries bottles are also on occasion bottled as Blairfindy. Located at the foot of Ben Rinnes, the distillery was originally licensed in 1836 by Robert Hay, but in 1865 John Grant purchased the distillery for a fee of £511 and it has been owned and managed by 6 different generations of the Grant family since.

Glenfarclas factsheet

Name Pronounced AKA Region Country of Origin
Glenfarclas glen*fark*lass Speyside Scotland
Status Active Whisky Type Website Tours Available
Active 1836 - Present Malt Glenfarclas Tour Link
Manager Distiller Blender Owned by Parent Group
George Grant

Glenfarclas Timeline:

1791: Evidence that the distillery first started operations sometime before 1791

1836: The farm distillery was purchased by Robert Hay

1865: John Grant purchased the distillery for a fee of £511

1895: Glenfarclas becomes part of the Glenfarclas-Glenlivet Distillery Co, jointly owned by the Grants and Pattison, Elder & Co

1898: The Pattison whisky crisis results in their bankruptcy the distillery is fully bought out by the Grants

1947: Glenfarclas became and private limited company

1960: Glenfarclas expands the distillery to 4 stills

1968: Glenfarclas becomes the first distilleries to release a cask strength malt

1972: The distilleries floor maltings are decommisioned

1973: Glenfarclas becomes one of the first distilleries to open a visitor centre

1976: Glenfarclas expands the distillery to 6 stills

Useful Glenfarclas links:

Glenfarclas at MaltMadness

Glenfarclas at MasterOfMalts

Glenfarclas at WhiskyExhange

Glenfarclas at WhiskyPortal

Glenfarclas at Whiskybase

Glenfarclas at Wikipedia

Glenfarclas at Wormtub

Interesting Glenfarclas links:

Blairfindy Blackadder bottling

Glenfarclas launches in Korea

Can I tour Glenfarclas?

Yes Glenfarclas distillery is tourable. On Trip Advisor the distillery has been rated as excellent by 305 of 358 tours to date. This gives Glenfarclas an overall rating of 5.0

Latest reviews

Great Tasting by Alan N

Turned up on a drive round speyside , no booking but was still offered a lovely tasting of two incredible whiskies by Donna , she was fantastic and gave us some great information about this great facility , enjoyed it so much we bought a bottle . The tasting room is worth a visit on its own , go ,you will enjoy it

Informative, Fun, Excellent Tour by Mobile47579024376

July 2021 visit was a free 1hr 30min actual distillery guided tour. Very informative guide (Kirsten - PhD student with a genuine interest in whisky). Easily heard all information despite mask wearing during the indoor parts of the tour. It all felt very COVID safe with participants (naturally!) standing socially distanced. Your included seeing many aspects of the whisky making process and into one of the cellars. The beautiful tasting room grand finale where you hear about the panels being bought from a sunken ship, was lovely. It was a free tour at this time and we received 2 nips with the driver getting one miniature to take away. Booked 2 days in advance via email with no problem.Highly recommend

Brilliant Tour by Dave P

Fantastic visit Donnas Doric tour was really interesting and Calum’s hospitality capped the perfect whisky experience donation to local foodbank is a fabulous way to say thanksWe will be back The Torphichen Team

Rating Reviews
Excellent 305
Very good 44
Average 4
Poor 3
Terrible 2