Glenfarclas The Family Casks 43 Years Old 1967

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 43 year old, from 1967, cask 5110, at 60.8%, 177 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses.

It was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. Ethereal and fragile, the decades draw it to a resinous, waxy depth of dried fruit, treacle and old oak. 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. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years.

At its natural 60.8% it is rich and chewy. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is a Speyside single malt of real standing.