Glenfarclas Cask Strength Premium Edition 11 Years Old 1997

An 11 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1997, at 55.5%, 9000 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch.

The spirit was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin rounding out as esters lend riper orchard fruit and a chocolate depth. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

Bottled at a cask strength 55.5%, it is deep and concentrated. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. The close is rich and dark, fruit over a warm spice. This is Glenfarclas's deep, fruity Speyside style.