Glenfarclas 1980 Vintage

This official Glenfarclas, an 18 year old, from 1980, at 43%, 1200 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 whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration.

Taken gently through wash and spirit stills, for the rich, sherried make Glenfarclas is known for. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the American oak lending vanilla and a light honey. Through oxidative maturity the esters concentrate, the orchard notes turning to raisin, fig and a dark chocolate. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At 43% it is smooth and rich. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, 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 richly sherried Speyside single malt.