Glenfarclas 40 Years Old (2015 Edition)

This official Glenfarclas, a 40 year old, at 43.2%. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt matured almost wholly in sherry casks from Jerez. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year. 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.

It was run slowly off the spirit still, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, the oak gentle behind the spirit. Ethereal and fragile, the decades draw it to a resinous, waxy depth of dried fruit, treacle and old oak. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years.

At 43.2% it is smooth and rich. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, lifted by a sweet oak. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real richness.