Glenfarclas The Family Casks 42 Years Old 1980

A 42 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1980, cask 1939, at 46.7%, 125 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a richly sherried Speyside single malt, run by the Grant family since 1865. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953. It launched the 105 in 1968, one of the first cask strength single malts sold to the public. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez.

It was drawn from a thick, heavy wash, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the American oak lending vanilla and a light honey. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon over dark fruit. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

At a hearty 46.7% it carries real weight. Fig, walnut and a bittersweet chocolate, lifted by a sweet oak. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is a deep, sherried Speyside single malt.