Glenfarclas The Family Casks 53 Years Old 1953

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 53 year old, from 1953, cask 1678, at 53.7%, 480 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt drawn from the largest, direct fired stills in Speyside. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s.

The spirit was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood working deep into the malt. At a great, fragile age oxidation rules, sotolon lending maple and dried fig as beeswax and old leather linger. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At its natural 53.7% it is rich and chewy. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. Dried fruit, spice and a soft oak see it out. This is a rich Speyside malt of dried fruit and nut.