Glenfarclas The Family Casks 38 Years Old 1975

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 38 year old, from 1975, cask 5040, at 53.1%, 220 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt drawn from the largest, direct fired stills in Speyside. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. Direct firing chars the wash a little, lending the rich, nutty depth Glenfarclas is known for. It launched the 105 in 1968, one of the first cask strength single malts sold to the public. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses.

Worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for the rich, sherried make Glenfarclas is known for. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, the oak gentle behind the spirit. 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 53.1%, it is deep and concentrated. Date, fig and a warm cinnamon, lifted by a sweet oak. The mouthfeel is full and coating, the fruit dark and sweet. The finish runs long, full and warming. This is a richly sherried Speyside single malt.