Glenfarclas The Family Casks 30 Years Old 1986

This official Glenfarclas, a 30 year old, from 1986, cask 3452, at 56.4%, 532 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez. Direct firing chars the wash a little, lending the rich, nutty depth Glenfarclas is known for.

Run slowly off the spirit still, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. It was fully matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood deep in the rich spirit. At a great, fragile age oxidation rules, sotolon lending maple and dried fig as beeswax and old leather linger. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt.

At 56.4%, undiluted, it is dark and full. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. Dried fruit, spice and a soft oak see it out. This is a Speyside single malt of real standing.