Glenfarclas 26 Years Old 1990 Wood Range Sherry Cask (Cadenhead’s)

This Glenfarclas comes from Cadenhead, Scotland's oldest independent bottler, Aberdeen born in 1842 and now in Campbeltown, a 26 year old, distilled in 1990, at 50.8%, one of 228 bottles. Glenfarclas, the glen of green grass, is a richly sherried Speyside single malt. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas.

Distilled in copper pot stills, for the rich, sherried make Glenfarclas is known for. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood working deep into the malt. Through the evaporative decades the esters fold into raisin, fig, beeswax and a bittersweet chocolate. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body.

At a hearty 50.8% it carries real weight. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. The finish runs long, full and warming. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real richness.