Marcus claims first place

The final of the 2022 Glenfarclas 105 Cask Strength Cocktail Competition was held in Glasgow on the 13th of June this year, and much to my surprise and delight, I won.

The competition is launched annually on the 15th of april, the 105th day of the year as a nod to the Glenfarclas 105 Cask Strength Whisky, and this year the brief focused on creating a cocktail based on “stories”.

With that in mind, before I even thought about creating a drink, I decided to incorporate some of my other interests into my presentation by putting together a hand-illustrated story book and using close up magic to make sure my performance was memorable. Fortunately, the drink came together as a result of the story I created and “A Pal’s Dram” with Glenfarclas 105, Yellow Chartreuse, bramble jam, honey syrup and acid adjusted apple juice, earned me a spot in the final.

For the final, on top of presenting my initial drink for the judges once more, I also had to create a second original cocktail inspired by the year 1968. The year that Glenfarclas 105 was launched as the world’s first commercially available cask strength whisky. For this, I drew inspiration from the fact that the first Boeing 747 was completed in 1968, opening up international travel like never before and allowing me to make use of exotic ingredients.

The drink itself was simple, drawing on flavours from Asia, with King’s Ginger liqueur and a homemade lemon green tea soda balancing out the punchy whisky in a take on the Japanese whisky highball that I called “The High-Flyer’s Highball”. That, along with my first drink won the judges over and I was awarded a unique one of one decanter of Glenfarclas 105, along with a 3
day experience at the distillery later this year among other things.

I’ve entered a couple of competitions in the past, with varying degrees of success, but this is my first (and hopefully not last) win! Competition season has well and truly started and I am hard at work on more ideas, perhaps you’ll hear about them some time soon! Marcus.

Recommended serve: High-flyer’s Highball
45ml Glenfarclas 105
10ml King’s Ginger Liqueur
Top with 100 ml green tea soda
(40ml cold brewed lemon green tea, 15ml lime juice, 10ml sugar syrup, 35ml soda water)