Glenfarclas The Family Casks 34 Years Old 1983

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 34 year old, from 1983, cask 38, at 50.8%, 257 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a richly sherried Speyside single malt, run by the Grant family since 1865. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch. Direct firing chars the wash a little, lending the rich, nutty depth Glenfarclas is known for. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953.

Drawn from a thick, heavy wash, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanillin and a soft coconut under the malt. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon over dark fruit. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At 50.8%, undiluted, it is dark and full. Date, fig and a warm cinnamon, lifted by a sweet oak. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. The finish is long, rich and spiced. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.