Glenfarclas Cask Strength Premium Edition 15 Years Old 1997

This official Glenfarclas, a 15 year old, from 1997, cask see note, at 53.6%, 6000 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt matured almost wholly in sherry casks from Jerez. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953.

The spirit was distilled to a rich, generous cut, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. Into oxidative maturity, slow air builds ripe esters and a darker chocolate, fig and date depth. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At its natural 53.6% it is rich and chewy. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. The close is rich and dark, fruit over a warm spice. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.