Glenfarclas The Family Casks 49 Years Old 1962

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 49 year old, from 1962, cask 2648, at 49.2%, 135 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt drawn from the largest, direct fired stills in Speyside. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez.

Drawn from a thick, heavy wash, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. 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. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At a hearty 49.2% it carries real weight. Raisin, chocolate and a warm spice, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Beneath it run dried fruit, dark sugar and a warm spice. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is a richly sherried Speyside single malt.