Glenfarclas 21 Years Old 1990 (Authentic Collection)

This Glenfarclas comes from Cadenhead, Scotland's oldest independent bottler, Aberdeen born in 1842 and now in Campbeltown, a 21 year old, distilled in 1990, at 54.3%, one of 222 bottles. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration.

Distilled to a rich, generous cut, for the rich, sherried make Glenfarclas is known for. An ex-Bourbon barrel shaped it, vanillin and a soft coconut under the malt. Into oxidative maturity, slow air builds ripe esters and a darker chocolate, fig and date depth. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt.

At its natural 54.3% it is rich and chewy. Raisin, chocolate and a warm spice, lifted by a sweet oak. A dark chocolate and a soft oak give it weight. Dried fruit, spice and a soft oak see it out. This is a rich Speyside malt of dried fruit and nut.