Glenfarclas 15 Years Old (Festival Bottling)

A 15 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, at 46%, a festival bottling. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, one of the last great family owned distilleries in Scotch. 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. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year.

Taken gently through wash and spirit stills, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. It rested in ex-Bourbon oak, oak lactones lending a creamy vanilla. At oxidative maturity aldehydes lend a nutty edge while ellagitannins draw a drying, structured grip across the fruit. 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.

Reduced to 46%, it is mellow and sweet. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, lifted by a sweet oak. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. It finishes long, full and fruity. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real richness.