Glenfarclas 1989 Edition N°18 Cask #5249-52,12992,13090

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 24 year old, from 1989, cask 5249-52,12992,13090, at 46%, 2400 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez.

Drawn from a thick, heavy wash, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. It was fully matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood deep in the rich spirit. Through the evaporative decades the esters fold into raisin, fig, beeswax and a bittersweet chocolate. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time.

Bottled at 46%, it is rounded and full. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is Glenfarclas's deep, fruity Speyside style.