Glenfarclas The Family Casks 47 Years Old 1967

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 47 year old, from 1967, cask 5112, at 58.2%, 126 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses.

It was run slowly off the spirit still, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. It was fully matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood deep in the rich spirit. At a great, fragile age oxidation rules, sotolon lending maple and dried fig as beeswax and old leather linger. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At its natural 58.2% it is rich and chewy. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The mouthfeel is full and coating, the fruit dark and sweet. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is a Speyside single malt of real standing.