Glenfarclas The Family Casks 33 Years Old 1982

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 33 year old, from 1982, cask 2074, at 49.6%, 206 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, one of the last great family owned distilleries in Scotch. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch.

Taken gently through wash and spirit stills, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, a soft vanilla beneath the fruit. 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. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register.

At a hearty 49.6% it carries real weight. A deep, dark sweetness, lifted by a sweet oak. It is full and fruity, the spirit carrying the cask. Dried fruit, spice and a soft oak see it out. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.