Speyside Life - To Vegas by Tornado Jet

To celebrate the launch of Glenfarclas 18 Years Old in Travel Retail, J. & G. Grant teamed up with another Speyside institition, RAF Lossiemouth. 12(B) Squadron offered to take two bottles of Glenfarclsas 18 Years Old from Glenfarclas Distillery to Las Vegas, where George Grant was attending the Nth Whisky Show, in a Tornado GR4 jet.

The 5634 mile journey was completed in 17 hours, 20 minutes with stops in the Azores, Newfoundland and Ohio along the way. The bottles, which have been signed by all the crew, then made the return journey to Scotland, one to Glenfarclas and one to RAF Lossiemouth. RAF Lossiemouth plan to auction their bottle on www.scotchwhiskyauctions.com in July 2013, along with a signed print of the Tornado jet in which it travelled, to raise funds for the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund.

Wing Commander Simon Strasdin Officer Commanding 12(B) Squadron said,

 “RAF Lossiemouth and its personnel have a long history of community integration and support and 12(B) Sqn’s links with Glenfarclas continue in this tradition. It is very generous of J. & G. Grant to donate one of these bottles to us. The bottle will be auctioned before we deploy on operations to Afghanistan in the summer, hopefully raising a good sum of money for the RAF Benevolent Fund”.

Available exclusively to Travel Retail, the Glenfarclas 18 Years Old will be offered to the Travel Retail sector worldwide, although it won’t always be delivered by Tornado!



 

Speyside Life - Alistair Miller celebrates forty years at Glenfarclas

Spirits were high at Glenfarclas at the end of December as Alistair Miller, Mashman, celebrated forty years employment with J. & G. Grant. As noted by John Grant, Chairman, Alistair is one of just six employees (as opposed to members of the Grant family) in the distillery’s 176 year history, to reach this milestone, the others being Bill Strathdee, Alistair Stronach, Bob Greig, Eddie Thompson and most recently Philip Hutcheon, who retired in 2004.

Warmly respected by his colleagues, Alistair is known for his modesty and good humour. Asked to describe the role of Mashman by whisky writer Ian Buxton in 2011, Alistair joked, ‘I walk about and watch what happens’.

As is traditional on these occasions Alistair was presented with a sample of some of his earliest work, a gallon bottle of 40 years old Glenfarclas, with a personalised label illustrating his long career at the distillery.