Glenfarclas The Family Casks 33 Years Old 1973

A 33 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1973, cask 2578, at 58.8%, 457 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt from Ballindalloch, in the heart of Speyside. It launched the 105 in 1968, one of the first cask strength single malts sold to the public. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration.

The spirit was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, the direct fired stills lending a nutty depth. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. At a great, fragile age oxidation rules, sotolon lending maple and dried fig as beeswax and old leather linger. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body.

At a natural 58.8% it is full and rich. A rich, sherried sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real richness.