Glenfarclas The Family Casks 19 Years Old 1995

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 19 year old, from 1995, cask 2283, at 47.8%, 278 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. Direct firing chars the wash a little, lending the rich, nutty depth Glenfarclas is known for. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year.

It was distilled to a rich, generous cut, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. Into oxidative maturity, slow air builds ripe esters and a darker chocolate, fig and date depth. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register.

At a natural 47.8% it is full and rich. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. It finishes long, full and fruity. This is the family sherry malt of Ballindalloch.