Glenfarclas The Family Casks 36 Years Old 1986

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 36 year old, from 1986, cask 4774, at 47.5%, 582 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt drawn from the largest, direct fired stills in Speyside. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953. 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 in copper pot stills, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanillin and a soft coconut under the malt. Ethereal and fragile, the decades draw it to a resinous, waxy depth of dried fruit, treacle and old oak. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years.

Bottled at a cask strength 47.5%, it is deep and concentrated. A rich, sherried sweetness, lifted by a sweet oak. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is a rich Speyside malt of dried fruit and nut.