Glenfarclas The Family Casks 36 Years Old 1982

A 36 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1982, cask 632, at 47.1%, 176 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a deep, dark Speyside malt of dried fruit, nut and spice. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez. It launched the 105 in 1968, one of the first cask strength single malts sold to the public. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds.

Run slowly off the spirit still, the direct fired stills lending a nutty depth. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the American oak lending vanilla and a light honey. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon over dark fruit. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

Bottled at a cask strength 47.1%, it is deep and concentrated. Raisin, chocolate and a warm spice, lifted by a sweet oak. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.