Glenfarclas 1966-1979 - 12 Year Old - Cadenheads Dumpy

One of Speyside’s greatest distilleries, Glenfarclas continues to plough the same furrow of exceptional quality spirit, sherry cask maturation, unfussy packaging and unbeatable value for money that has served it so well for decades, with the distillery’s careful stewardship of long-aged stock reserves and refusal to abandon the use of sherry casks leaving it perfectly placed to pick up the growing number of disillusioned Macallan fans.

Glenfarclas is a classic old school Speyside distillery and has been owned by the Grant family since 1865. The Grants have maintained the best traditions of old school whisky-making, using long fermentation times and direct-fired stills, and have been rewarded with an army of loyal followers. Independent bottlings of Glenfarclas are exceptionally rare; thankfully, the consistent quality of the official bottlings ensures that their absence is not felt.

In 1842 George Duncan established a wine merchant and distillery agency business in Aberdeen. Duncan was joined in the early 1850s by his brother-in-law William Cadenhead, who took over the business after Duncan’s death in 1858, changing the company’s name to Wm. Cadenhead. When Cadenhead died in 1904 the company passed to his nephew Robert Duthie, who developed the spirits side of the business.

Duthie died suddenly in 1931, and employee Ann Oliver was put in charge of Cadenhead’s. Sadly, Oliver’s tenure ended in financial difficulty and on her retirement in 1972 the business was forced to sell its entire inventory. Cadenhead’s was acquired soon afterwards by J & A Mitchell, proprietors of Springbank distillery, who relocated the business to Campbeltown. Cadenhead’s has flourished under Mitchell’s stewardship, releasing many legendary single malt bottlings in the 1980s and 1990s and now has outlets in Edinburgh and London as well as Campbeltown.