Glenfarclas Christmas Edition 2025 10 Years Old 2015

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 10 year old, from 2015, at 50%, 3600 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. Direct firing chars the wash a little, lending the rich, nutty depth Glenfarclas is known for. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses.

Distilled in copper pot stills, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. It was fully matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood deep in the rich spirit. By the integrating teens the raw notes fade and esters build, the rich spirit growing rounder and darker. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate.

At a hearty 50% it carries real weight. A rich, sherried sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is a rich Speyside malt of dried fruit and nut.