Glenfarclas The Family Casks 29 Years Old 1991

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 29 year old, from 1991, cask 211, at 56.3%, 443 bottles in all. Glenfarclas, the glen of green grass, is a richly sherried Speyside single malt. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year.

Distilled in copper pot stills, the direct fired stills lending a nutty depth. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. In the oxidative, evaporative years the spirit concentrates to dried fruit, dark chocolate and a waxy, resinous depth. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch.

At its natural 56.3% it is rich and chewy. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Beneath it run dried fruit, dark sugar and a warm spice. The close is rich and dark, fruit over a warm spice. This is a deep, sherried Speyside single malt.