Glenfarclas has released its 63 Year Old Pagoda Sapphire Reserve in exquisite jewel encrusted Glencairn Crystal decanters. This final addition completes one of the world’s most prestigious series of single malt whiskies which has been almost five years in the making.
The Glenfarclas Pagoda Sapphire Reserve joins the critically acclaimed Pagoda Reserve Trilogy, comprising some of the finest and rarest whiskies on the planet today, as well as the 62 Year Old Ruby Pagoda Reserve released earlier this year.
The Sapphire Reserve is available in two editions:
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
The award-winning Scottish family business, Glencairn Crystal Studio, has designed and created all the luxury decanters in the Pagoda Reserve Series. The Pagoda Sapphire Reserve decanters, along with the other decanters in the series, are produced from the highest quality hand blown 30% lead crystal, renowned for its ultra-clarity to allow the full colour and richness of the whisky to shine through.
The Pagoda Sapphire Reserve decanter has been an exciting project for Glencairn Crystal Studio as it is the first time that the company has created glassware featuring precious sapphires. 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.
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.
The Glenfarclas Pagoda Series takes its inspiration from 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.
Scott Davidson, Glencairn’s New Product Development Director, commented: “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. 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. ”