One of Scotland’s few remaining family-owned and managed distilleries has released of its oldest whisky to date: Glenfarclas 70-Year-Old.

Only 262 bottles are available globally, with just 15 allocated to Australian Ddstributor Vintage House Wine and Spirits, priced at $40,000 a bottle.

Distilled on 20 November 1953, the whisky was matured in the distillery’s traditional dunnage warehouses in Speyside, laid down in first-fill sherry casks.

The whisky has been overseen by six distillery managers over the past 70 years. When it was distilled back in 1953, the malt barn would have been a hive of activity at the heart of the distillery, with barley being hand-turned on the malting floors.

Today the old malt barn has been re-purposed as the tun room. This remarkable whisky comes from one of the few remaining casks of this era.

The Glenfarclas 70-Year-Old is described as revealing a nose of stewed fruits and a gentle touch of Speyside peat. On the palate, rich notes of dark chocolate, spiced dried fruits, treacle toffee and deep coffee unfold in layers. The finish is long and evolving.

Chairman and fifth generation of the Grant family to have owned and run Glenfarclas distillery, John Grant said: “As Chairman of a family-owned distillery I am committed to overseeing the production of our exceptional malt whisky, just as my forefathers did before me.

“We take great pride in maintaining complete control over every aspect of production, preserving our time-honoured traditional methods – most notably, the use of direct-fired stills, which creates a robust and full-bodied spirit.

“Remarkably, this particular cask has been maturing almost as long as I’ve been alive. Releasing it now marks a true milestone, and one that Callum and I have considered carefully and with great respect for its legacy.”

At 70 years old, this is the oldest release in the Glenfarclas Warehouse Series, surpassing the 30-, 35-, and 40-Year-Old expressions.

Glenfarclas Distillery Manager Callum A. Fraser said: “This is true Glenfarclas and this expression captures the very DNA of the distillery.

“What we did 30 or 40 or even 70 years ago is very much what we still do today. The warehouses are still here, holding decades of stories in their walls. At the heart of it all, tradition remains key.

“This whisky has waited seventy years to be enjoyed. Through wars, the reign of a queen and now a king, the world has changed — but this spirit has endured, and it stands as a rare and timeless testament to patience and craft.”