Glenfarclas Single Cask 50 Years Old 1967

A 50 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1967, at 58.2%, a festival cask. Glenfarclas, the glen of green grass, is a richly sherried Speyside single malt. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds. Direct firing chars the wash a little, lending the rich, nutty depth Glenfarclas is known for. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez.

It was distilled to a rich, generous cut, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanillin and a soft coconut under the malt. Ethereal and fragile, the decades draw it to a resinous, waxy depth of dried fruit, treacle and old oak. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body.

At its natural 58.2% it is rich and chewy. Fig, walnut and a bittersweet chocolate, lifted by a sweet oak. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. It finishes long, full and fruity. This is a deep, sherried Speyside single malt.