Glenfarclas Single Cask #6320 + 6324 16 Years Old 1999 (Oloroso)

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 16 year old, from 1999, cask 6320 + 6324, at 46%, a festival cask. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt matured almost wholly in sherry casks from Jerez. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses.

It was taken gently through wash and spirit stills, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood working deep into the malt. At oxidative maturity aldehydes lend a nutty edge while ellagitannins draw a drying, structured grip across 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.

Bottled at 46%, it is rounded and full. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real richness.