Glenfarclas 50 Years Old (sherry cask strength)

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 50 year old, at 41.4%, 118 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a richly sherried Speyside single malt, run by the Grant family since 1865. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration.

Distilled to a rich, generous cut, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. Ethereal and fragile, the decades draw it to a resinous, waxy depth of dried fruit, treacle and old oak. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

Bottled at a cask strength 41.4%, it is deep and concentrated. Raisin, chocolate and a warm spice, 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 richly sherried Speyside single malt.