The Glenfarclas Pagaoda bottlings, as we’ve explored in the past, is a chance to showcase some of this venerable Scottish brand’s oldest whiskies in extremely exquisite and expensive decanters. We saw this earlier this year with the release of the 62 Year Old Ruby Pagoda Reserve, studded with rubies, and now this line up is back again with the new 63 Year Old Pagoda Sapphire Reserve.
The new Glenfarclas 63 Year Old Pagoda Sapphire Reserve, according to those behind, takes extremely rare distillery single malt whisky that’s over six decades old and puts into a special themed decanter created by Glencarin. As the Scotch brand notes, “the front age statement on each decanter is embedded with 36 sapphires to construct the number 63, to highlight the age of the whisky.
“A staggering 11,000 sapphires were ordered and only those sapphires that were matching in size, and a dark blue rather than light blue colour, were individually selected to compliment the blue crystal stopper and specially created metallic blue colour applied to the engravings on the sides.
“Intricate Chinese Guardian lions are featured on the sides of the Pagoda Sapphire Reserve decanter and are deeply engraved and infilled with a carefully selected rich dark blue colour to match the blue crystal Pagoda shaped stopper. These graphics bring a fluency to the representations of the Silk Road which are intricately engraved into the Pagoda shaped tops of both the Ruby and Sapphire Reserves.”
Multiple versions of this expression are being made available as follows:
Limited Edition Silver
- 700ml bottles, priced £23,783 (ex. VAT) – 180 bottles produced
- 1.5L Magnums, priced £50,964 (ex.VAT) – 63 bottles produced
Collector’s Edition Gold
- 1.5L Magnums, priced £56,060 (ex. VAT) – 45 bottles produced
As you can see, the prices listed above suggest they are mostly set to go into the hand of wealthy whisky lovers. It is noted by the brand that “the solid silver and gold plated collars of the two editions are both individually numbered with a unique design. In fact, each decanter is truly one of a kind, hand blown by some of the most skilled glassblowers in the world, with each of the delicate fittings being individually engineered to fit.”
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“We are incredibly proud of our work on the Glenfarclas Pagoda Series and believe we have delivered some of our finest and most exceptional crystal cut decanters to date,” said Scott Davidson, Glencairn’s New Product Development Director, in a prepared statement. “It has been an absolute joy to work on this project as it has given us the chance to incorporate valuable gemstones into our decanters for the first time.
“Each and every decanter created is a truly unique work of art to honour the quality of the whisky inside.”
The pagoda design, for the curious, is in reference to “the pagoda style kiln invented by Charles Doig more than 130 years ago. It turned the pagoda roof structure from Asia into a Scotch whisky icon and became an integral part of the whisky making process. Glenfarclas decommissioned its Pagoda Kiln in 1972 and the Pagoda Series pays tribute to this relic of malt whisky production of the past.”
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