Glenfarclas The Family Casks 19 Years Old 2003

A 19 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 2003, cask 1970, at 55.9%, 593 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, one of the last great family owned distilleries in Scotch. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year. 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.

It was run slowly off the spirit still, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. A refill bourbon hogshead held it, keeping the full character to the fore. Through oxidative maturity the esters concentrate, the orchard notes turning to raisin, fig and a dark chocolate. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

At a hearty 55.9% it carries real weight. Fig, walnut and a bittersweet chocolate, lifted by a sweet oak. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is a richly sherried Speyside single malt.