Glenfarclas The Family Casks 30 Years Old 1984

A 30 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1984, cask 6032, at 47%, 211 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, one of the last great family owned distilleries in Scotch. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. It launched the 105 in 1968, one of the first cask strength single malts sold to the public.

Distilled in copper pot stills, the direct fired stills lending a nutty depth. A refill bourbon hogshead held it, keeping the full character to the fore. At a great, fragile age oxidation rules, sotolon lending maple and dried fig as beeswax and old leather linger. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register.

Bottled at a cask strength 47%, it is deep and concentrated. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, lifted by a sweet oak. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is a Speyside single malt of real standing.