Glenfarclas Team

A Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, at 46%, 6000 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch.

It was run slowly off the spirit still, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. Carrying no age, soft vanillin and dried fruit suggest a fair spell in active oak. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate.

Reduced to 46%, it is mellow and sweet. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The mouthfeel is full and coating, the fruit dark and sweet. A deep finish ends on dried fruit and a dark chocolate. This is Glenfarclas's deep, fruity Speyside style.