Glenfarclas 1990 (Ex-Bourbon)

A Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1990, at 43%. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953.

Taken gently through wash and spirit stills, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanillin and a soft coconut under the malt. Without an age statement, a dark sugar and dried fruit point to good years in cask. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At 43% it is smooth and rich. Fig, walnut and a bittersweet chocolate, lifted by a sweet oak. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. The finish is long, rich and spiced. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.