Glenfarclas £511.19s.0d

A Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, at 43%, a festival cask. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, one of the last great family owned distilleries in Scotch. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses.

The spirit was distilled to a rich, generous cut, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood working deep into the malt. Carrying no age, soft vanillin and dried fruit suggest a fair spell in active oak. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At 43% it is rich, fruity and deep. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The mouthfeel is full and coating, the fruit dark and sweet. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real richness.