Glenfarclas The Family Casks 11 Years Old 2004

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, an 11 year old, from 2004, cask 2623, at 60.4%, 683 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, one of the last great family owned distilleries in Scotch. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez.

It was run slowly off the spirit still, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. It was fully matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood deep in the rich spirit. By the integrating teens the raw notes fade and esters build, the rich spirit growing rounder and darker. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

At a hearty 60.4% it carries real weight. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. The close is rich and dark, fruit over a warm spice. This is a full bodied Speyside single malt of real richness.