Glenfarclas Christmas Single Highland Malt 22 Years Old 1980

This official Glenfarclas, a 22 year old, from 1980, cask 11048, at 54.7%, 593 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. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year.

Worked unhurried through the stillhouse, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, the oak gentle behind the spirit. In the oxidative, evaporative years the spirit concentrates to dried fruit, dark chocolate and a waxy, resinous depth. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time.

At a hearty 54.7% it carries real weight. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, lifted by a sweet oak. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. The finish is long, rich and spiced. This is a Speyside single malt of real standing.