Glenfarclas 25 Years Old 1971 (Oloroso)

A 25 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1971, at 43%, 1200 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a deep, dark Speyside malt of dried fruit, nut and spice. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds.

The spirit was distilled in copper pot stills, the direct fired stills lending a nutty depth. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. Through the evaporative decades the esters fold into raisin, fig, beeswax and a bittersweet chocolate. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch.

Bottled at 43%, it is rounded and full. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Beneath it run dried fruit, dark sugar and a warm spice. The close is rich and dark, fruit over a warm spice. This is the family sherry malt of Ballindalloch.