Glenfarclas Passion

Glenfarclas from the distillery, at 46%, 6000 bottles in all. Glenfarclas, the glen of green grass, is a richly sherried Speyside single malt. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s.

It was taken gently through wash and spirit stills, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood working deep into the malt. 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. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt.

At an approachable 46% it is soft and fruity. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. The finish runs long, full and warming. This is a deep, sherried Speyside single malt.