Glenfarclas 1981 – Port Cask Cask #151

This official Glenfarclas, a 35 year old, from 1981, cask 151, at 47.9%, 521 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses.

Worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. A Port cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon over dark fruit. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate.

Bottled at a cask strength 47.9%, it is deep and concentrated. Date, fig and a warm cinnamon, with red berry, plum and a dry spice from the cask. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. Dried fruit, spice and a soft oak see it out. This is Glenfarclas's deep, fruity Speyside style.