Glenfarclas The Family Casks 30 Years Old 1988 Cask #1374

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 30 year old, from 1988, cask 1374, at 49.2%, 593 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, one of the last great family owned distilleries in Scotch. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year.

Run slowly off the spirit still, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. Ethereal and fragile, the decades draw it to a resinous, waxy depth of dried fruit, treacle and old oak. 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. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register.

Bottled at a cask strength 49.2%, it is deep and concentrated. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The mouthfeel is full and coating, the fruit dark and sweet. It finishes long, full and fruity. This is a Speyside single malt of real standing.