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Glenfarclas 1963-2002 - 39 Year Old - SMWS 1.96 - The Night Before Christmas
Glenfarclas 1963 - 2002. 39 Year Old. Botted by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Society cask number 1.96. The Night Before Christmas. One of 98 bottles. 70cl. 49.1%. 85.9 Proof.
From the Archives: As you know, great age is not necessarily a good thing with malt whisky, but when the cask is right, the result is wonderful. This is a full-bodied malt from a classic Speyside distillery, owned by the great-great grandson of its founder, John Grant. It was also one of the first distilleries on Speyside to build a visitor centre (in 1973).
The cask here is probably European oak, despite being hogshead size, and it has done a marvellous job, colouring its contents a deep treacle hue, with magenta lights - possibly the darkest ever bottled by the Society.
The nose is cognac-like, with Christmas cake and mince pies, prunes and black coffee, and a curious hint of the gum on manilla envelopes. We were reminded of Christmas Eve.
It drinks well at full strength: warming, somewhat tannic (as One would imagine), chewy, with traces of coffee grounds and liquorice and blackcurrant jam in the long unish. The addition of a dash of water (be very careful, don't drown it!) brings up treacle toffee and burnt sugar, and reveals further complexity; the mouthfeel is now viscous, very sweet to start but drying out; not quite so tannic as when tasted straight.
A sophisticated, special occasion digestif, to be shared with very good friends. The panel all ordered bottles.
One of Speyside’s greatest distilleries, Glenfarclas continues to plough the same furrow of exceptional quality spirit, sherry cask maturation, unfussy packaging and unbeatable value for money that has served it so well for decades, with the distillery’s careful stewardship of long-aged stock reserves and refusal to abandon the use of sherry casks leaving it perfectly placed to pick up the growing number of disillusioned Macallan fans.
Glenfarclas is a classic old school Speyside distillery and has been owned by the Grant family since 1865. The Grants have maintained the best traditions of old school whisky-making, using long fermentation times and direct-fired stills, and have been rewarded with an army of loyal followers. Independent bottlings of Glenfarclas are exceptionally rare; thankfully, the consistent quality of the official bottlings ensures that their absence is not felt.
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) began in late 1970s Edinburgh when founder Pip Hills persuaded a group of friends to chip in for a cask of Glenfarclas, and was officially formalised in 1983. Today the SMWS has two venues in Edinburgh, a London bar and a string of international partnerships serving its 35,000 members.
The Society’s whiskies are known for their unique SMWS coding system. Each cask bottled is assigned two numbers, representing the distillery and the bottling number, so 1.45 is the forty-fifth cask bottled from the first distillery and 33.27 is the 27th cask from the 33rd distillery.
Glenmorangie bought the Society in 2004, but sold it in 2015 to a private consortium who floated the SMWS on the stock market in 2021 via their holding company Artisanal Spirits Co.