Glenfarclas The Family Casks 46 Years Old 1968 Cask #5245

This official Glenfarclas, a 46 year old, from 1968, cask 5245, at 43.1%, 175 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt from Ballindalloch, in the heart of Speyside. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds.

It was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. 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. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch.

At a hearty 43.1% it carries real weight. A rich, sherried sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is a richly sherried Speyside single malt.