Glenfarclas Christmas Single Malt 32 Years Old 1980 (11074 + 11075)

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 32 year old, from 1980, cask 11074 + 11075, at 45.7%, 792 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a richly sherried Speyside single malt, run by the Grant family since 1865. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas.

The spirit was run slowly off the spirit still, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. It was matured in a Port cask, the wood working deep into the malt. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon over dark fruit. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body.

At its natural 45.7% it is rich and chewy. A deep, dark sweetness, with red berry, plum and a dry spice from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is a rich Speyside malt of dried fruit and nut.