Glenfarclas 1986 – Refill Sherry Butts Cask #3454 & 3457

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 29 year old, from 1986, cask 3454 & 3457, at 53.8%, 1094 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a deep, dark Speyside malt of dried fruit, nut and spice. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953. Direct firing chars the wash a little, lending the rich, nutty depth Glenfarclas is known for.

The spirit was distilled in copper pot stills, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. It was fully matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood deep in the rich spirit. In the oxidative, evaporative years the spirit concentrates to dried fruit, dark chocolate and a waxy, resinous depth. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years.

At a natural 53.8% it is full and rich. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. It is full and fruity, the spirit carrying the cask. Dried fruit, spice and a soft oak see it out. This is Glenfarclas's deep, fruity Speyside style.