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A step Back In Time.. Glenfarclas 60 Year Old Whisky.

A step Back In Time.. Glenfarclas 60 Year Old Whisky.

The year 1959 did not start well for Glenfarclas. At 2.00am on 1st January 1959 we found the stillman on duty had rather overindulged in the Hogmanay celebrations and forgotten to open a valve on the wash still. The result was almost catastrophic.

When the valve was finally opened, the heat and volume of liquid broke the spirit safe, and boiling alcohol escaped everywhere. 

Fire hoses stopped the alcohol igniting, thankfully, but most of the wash had to be replaced. The insurance company suggested that perhaps closing over the Christmas period in the future, before presumably asking themselves why they’d ever taken on a booze factory as a client. Glenfarclas took the advice and 1959 was the last time the Speysiders distilled and filled on Christmas Day. 

Glenfarclas Whisky Store

While 1959 didn’t kick-off in the finest of fashions, it was a record production year for Glenfarclas, a new farm steading was completed that summer and work began on a new stillhouse to increase the number of stills from two to four, effectively doubling production by 1961. Before that was completed, whisky was distilled and placed in a one particular first-fill Oloroso Sherry hogshead on the 2nd of June 1959, where it remained in the brand’s dunnage warehouse until November 2019, when it was bottled at 40.9% ABV.

Just 105 precious bottles of this UK exclusive aged Whisky have been made available. Each one is made from hand-blown Glencairn Crystal and the gift boxes are produced by NEJ Stevenson so it’s got all the luxury trimmings you’d expect for a whisky of this age.

As you have probably already guessed a Whisky of this calibre comes with a heavy price tag.

Official Tasting Notes

Nose: Christmas cask steeped in Glenfarclas, spice, orange and dark chocolate.

Palate: Christmas flavours continue on the palate; Christmas pudding drenched in brandy butter and set alight. A silky-smooth dram with rich, dark spice in the mouth.

Finish: A wonderful complex dram that oozes flavours of marzipan and Christmas sherry. A traditional, old-style Glenfarclas.

 

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