Glenfarclas 175th Anniversary (Chairman’s Reserve)

A Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, at 46%, 1296 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt drawn from the largest, direct fired stills in Speyside. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. It launched the 105 in 1968, one of the first cask strength single malts sold to the public.

Taken gently through wash and spirit stills, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. Without an age statement, a dark sugar and dried fruit point to good years in cask. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt.

At 46% it is smooth and rich. 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 a deep, sherried Speyside single malt.