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The Water of Life –
1990s onwards
JOHN L S GRANT tells the
story about GLENFARCLAS
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John L S and George S
Grant, around 1990. |
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The spring of 1990 was one
of the driest on record for us and we were desperate for
rain. For a bit of fun, we asked BBC weatherman Ian
McCaskill to open the new filling store we had just
built. What happened? Our plan had worked a treat – no
sooner had he left than there was a horrendous downpour.
We also completed two new warehouses that year but
suffered a little on the sales side. Blenders reduced
their filling orders and sales of our cased goods lost
ground, due to the Gulf War and the recession in the UK
and USA.
As I have already mentioned, John Miller joined the
company as a young man in 1978, when he was still under
the legal drinking age. By 1993, he was our brewer;
experienced in all the aspects of Glenfarclas production
and ready to be promoted to Distillery Manager.
John’s first year as Distillery Manager in 1994 turned
out to be an interesting one. Malcolm Greenwood, our
Sales Director at the time, received a letter from a
gentleman in |
Illinois asking if we would be
interested in a case of Glenfarclas which had been delivered to
his father in the 1930s. We did our sums and realised that, if
genuine, it would be the oldest unopened case of Glenfarclas in
existence. We were off! So precious was the consignment that
British Airways arranged a First Class seat for the case on our
return home. Today, it remains unopened and is stored in a
secret location on Speyside.
Later in 1994, Kenneth Clark, the then Chancellor of the
Exchequer, visited the distillery and filled a cask for us. When
it is ready, we may well bottle it as part of The Family Casks
collection.
Much has changed at Glenfarclas over the years but many things
stay the same. For example, we are still at the mercy of the
distiller’s greatest dilemma – what to produce today for sale in
ten years or so? My father had a simple answer, which I stand
by. Do not produce today what you think demand will require in
ten years time. Only produce what you can afford to produce.
I am just as committed to ensuring that what is produced today
meets my father’s exacting standards; and those of our ancestors,
and is matured in the best possible casks, in traditional
dunnage warehouses.
Guessing the future is a challenge. What I do know is
Glenfarclas is in good shape for what is to come. We have (give
or take) 50,000 casks in the warehouses waiting to be enjoyed,
my family’s commitment to quality has been recognised by the
2006 Distiller of the Year award and we are enjoying some of our
best sales ever.
As I write, Virgin Galactic have announced they are considering
using nearby RAF Lossiemouth to launch space flights. Who knows
where our future sales trips will take us? |
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Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clark assists
in the filling store in 1994.
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