Glenfarclas Refill Oloroso Cask 1987

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, from 1987, at 46%. Glenfarclas is a deep, dark Speyside malt of dried fruit, nut and spice. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch.

Distilled in copper pot stills, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. Without an age statement, a dark sugar and dried fruit point to good years in cask. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years.

At an approachable 46% it is soft and fruity. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The mouthfeel is full and coating, the fruit dark and sweet. The finish runs long, full and warming. This is a deep, sherried Speyside single malt.