Did You Know GlenFarclas has A Guinness World Record?

Here's an interesting fact about the world's smallest whisky storage. The production of whisky takes time. Following malting, drying, and fermenting, the product still needs to ferment and then distil. While this process is comparatively fast, what follows is a long wait. After all, whisky must age for years, with most connoisseurs agreeing: the longer, the better. The flavor of the cask seeps into the whisky, partly determining its taste (and color).

Of course, this means that vast quantities of whisky are resting in barrels worldwide until their maturation period is over and they are ready to be bottled. Many whisky distilleries, therefore, have substantial storage spaces to store all those barrels. One such distillery is Glenfarclas.

The distillery has more than 100,000 barrels of whisky stored in no less than 36 large warehouses. Scrooge McDuck would be envious.

And yet, Glenfarclas is not known for just that. Not only does the distillery have a massive number of large warehouses, but one of them is tucked away in a truly unique place: under a staircase. Anyone who has ever read a Harry Potter book knows that not much space is available under a staircase, and that's precisely the case here.

This tiny mini-warehouse can hold a maximum of three barrels. Glenfarclas thus officially boasts the smallest bonded whisky warehouse in the world. Guinness was there and included Glenfarclas in their world record book, so it's confirmed.

Unfortunately these are not whisky casks, but sherry casks. One of the barrels has a particularly special owner, none other than Prince Andrew, known for his penchant for the water of life.

Therefore, it's no surprise a special bridal whisky was bottled specifically for Prince Andrew's marriage to Sarah Ferguson in 1986(!). A bottle that's still available for purchase! We suspect Prince Andrew would rather not be reminded of that now, considering his marriage to Ferguson ended in 1996.

Before you think: "What Glenfarclas can do, I can do," setting up a bonded warehouse isn't as simple as rolling in an oak barrel. For storage to qualify, it must meet strict regulations as it is a holding place for goods on which tax will eventually have to be paid--but not during storage. Therefore, agreements need to be made with the tax authorities and customs before a whisky barrel can enter storage. At least, if you officially want to outdo Glenfarclas and make it into the Guinness Book of Records...

Perhaps that spot underneath the staircase isn't such a bad idea after all. Tell us, did you know this is the smallest whisky storage in the world?