Glenfarclas Springs

This official Glenfarclas, at 46%, 6000 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a deep, dark Speyside malt of dried fruit, nut and spice. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas.

The spirit was drawn from a thick, heavy wash, for the rich, sherried make Glenfarclas is known for. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. Carrying no age, soft vanillin and dried fruit suggest a fair spell in active oak. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt.

Reduced to 46%, it is mellow and sweet. Raisin, chocolate and a warm spice, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real richness.