Glenfarclas The Family Casks 48 Years Old 1963

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 48 year old, from 1963, cask 179, at 50.4%, 194 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a richly sherried Speyside single malt, run by the Grant family since 1865. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds.

The spirit was drawn from a thick, heavy wash, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon over dark fruit. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body.

At its natural 50.4% it is rich and chewy. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. The finish runs long, full and warming. This is a Speyside single malt of real standing.