Glenfarclas Special Edition 10 Years Old 2013

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 10 year old, from 2013, cask 768, at 59.8%, released for a whisky festival. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt drawn from the largest, direct fired stills in Speyside. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses.

It was distilled to a rich, generous cut, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin rounding out as esters lend riper orchard fruit and a chocolate depth. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt.

At its natural 59.8% it is rich and chewy. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, 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.