Glenfarclas The Family Casks 41 Years Old 1981

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 41 year old, from 1981, cask 56, at 44.9%, 106 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a deep, dark Speyside malt of dried fruit, nut and spice. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953.

Distilled to a rich, generous cut, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, a soft vanilla beneath the fruit. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon over dark fruit. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

At its natural 44.9% it is rich and chewy. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, lifted by a sweet oak. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is the family sherry malt of Ballindalloch.