Glenfarclas 15 Years Old (Netherlands Exclusive)

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 15 year old, at 52.1%, 1800 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a richly sherried Speyside single malt, run by the Grant family since 1865. 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 draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s.

Worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. Through oxidative maturity the esters concentrate, the orchard notes turning to raisin, fig and a dark chocolate. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At its natural 52.1% it is rich and chewy. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. It is full and fruity, the spirit carrying the cask. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is the family sherry malt of Ballindalloch.