Glenfarclas 9 Years Old 2011 (Oloroso)

This official Glenfarclas, a 9 year old, from 2011, at 46%, a festival cask. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953.

Drawn from a thick, heavy wash, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. It was fully matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood deep in the rich spirit. Young and extractive, the cask sheds vanillin and toasted sugars over the full, fruity spirit. 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.

At an approachable 46% it is soft and fruity. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Beneath it run dried fruit, dark sugar and a warm spice. Dried fruit, spice and a soft oak see it out. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.