Glenfarclas Single Cask #7100 31 Years Old 1990 (Oloroso)

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 31 year old, from 1990, cask 7100, at 46.9%, 219 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a richly sherried Speyside single malt, run by the Grant family since 1865. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas.

The spirit was distilled to a rich, generous cut, for the rich, sherried make Glenfarclas is known for. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. In its ethereal years the malt turns waxy and oxidative, faded esters and a whisper of sotolon over dark fruit. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. 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.

Bottled at a cask strength 46.9%, it is deep and concentrated. Raisin, chocolate and a warm spice, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. It is full and fruity, the spirit carrying the cask. It finishes long, full and fruity. This is a richly sherried Speyside single malt.