Glenfarclas Distillery Exclusive 10 Years Old 2008

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 10 year old, from 2008, cask 376, at 64.1%, 656 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, one of the last great family owned distilleries in Scotch. Direct firing chars the wash a little, lending the rich, nutty depth Glenfarclas is known for.

The spirit was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, the direct fired stills lending a nutty depth. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. By the integrating teens the raw notes fade and esters build, the rich spirit growing rounder and darker. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body.

At its natural 64.1% it is rich and chewy. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A dark chocolate and a soft oak give it weight. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is the family sherry malt of Ballindalloch.