Glenfarclas 1989 Edition N°23

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 30 year old, from 1989, at 46%, 3600 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.

The spirit was run slowly off the spirit still, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. Ethereal and fragile, the decades draw it to a resinous, waxy depth of dried fruit, treacle and old oak. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. 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. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate.

Reduced to 46%, it is mellow and sweet. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The mouthfeel is full and coating, the fruit dark and sweet. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is Glenfarclas's deep, fruity Speyside style.