Glenfarclas Distillery Exclusive 14 Years Old 2005

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 14 year old, from 2005, cask 2855, at 58.2%, 650 bottles in all. Glenfarclas, the glen of green grass, is a richly sherried Speyside single malt. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds.

It was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. 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. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

At 58.2%, undiluted, it is dark and full. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.