Glenfarclas 40 Years Old

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 40 year old, at 43%. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt matured almost wholly in sherry casks from Jerez. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. It launched the 105 in 1968, one of the first cask strength single malts sold to the public.

The spirit was run slowly off the spirit still, the direct fired stills lending a nutty depth. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon over dark fruit. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time.

Reduced to 43%, it is mellow and sweet. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.