Glenfarclas 25 Years Old (Blue Ceramic Jug)

A 25 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, at 43%, a festival cask. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch.

Worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the American oak lending vanilla and a light honey. At this evaporative stage ellagitannins lend structure while oxidation builds a richer raisin and treacle. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register.

At an approachable 43% it is soft and fruity. Fig, walnut and a bittersweet chocolate, lifted by a sweet oak. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is the family sherry malt of Ballindalloch.