Glenfarclas The Family Casks 38 Years Old 1985

A 38 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1985, cask 2606, at 42.5%, 192 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a deep, dark Speyside malt of dried fruit, nut and spice. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration.

Drawn from a thick, heavy wash, for the rich, sherried make Glenfarclas is known for. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood working deep into the malt. At a great, fragile age oxidation rules, sotolon lending maple and dried fig as beeswax and old leather linger. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At 42.5% it is smooth and rich. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. Dried fruit, spice and a soft oak see it out. This is a rich Speyside malt of dried fruit and nut.