Glenfarclas The Family Casks 41 Years Old 1968

A 41 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1968, cask 699, at 51%, a festival cask. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt from Ballindalloch, in the heart of Speyside. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds.

It was taken gently through wash and spirit stills, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. It was matured in a Fino 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. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

Bottled at a cask strength 51%, it is deep and concentrated. A deep, dark sweetness, with a dry, saline, almond note from the cask. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is a deep, sherried Speyside single malt.