Glenfarclas Heritage (France Exclusive)

Glenfarclas from the distillery, at 40%. Glenfarclas is a richly sherried Speyside single malt, run by the Grant family since 1865. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration.

Worked unhurried through the stillhouse, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. Maturation came in ex-Bourbon wood, the oak gentle behind the spirit. With no age statement, vanillin reads as vanilla and oak lactones as coconut over the rich, fruity spirit. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At 40% it is smooth and rich. A rich, sherried sweetness, lifted by a sweet oak. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. The close is rich and dark, fruit over a warm spice. This is a Speyside single malt of real standing.