Glenfarclas 40th Anniversary Limited Edition 40 Years Old

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 40 year old, at 60%, 893 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a richly sherried Speyside single malt, run by the Grant family since 1865. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year. It launched the 105 in 1968, one of the first cask strength single malts sold to the public.

The spirit was drawn from a thick, heavy wash, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon over dark fruit. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body.

Bottled at a cask strength 60%, it is deep and concentrated. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. The finish runs long, full and warming. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real richness.