Glenfarclas The Family Casks 33 Years Old 1980

This official Glenfarclas, a 33 year old, from 1980, cask 1911, at 49.7%, 184 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt matured almost wholly in sherry casks from Jerez. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses.

The spirit was distilled to a rich, generous cut, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. Ethereal and fragile, the decades draw it to a resinous, waxy depth of dried fruit, treacle and old oak. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

Bottled at a cask strength 49.7%, it is deep and concentrated. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is a Speyside single malt of real standing.