Glenfarclas The Family Casks 11 Years Old 2010

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, an 11 year old, from 2010, cask 1504, at 60.4%, 622 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt matured almost wholly in sherry casks from Jerez. It launched the 105 in 1968, one of the first cask strength single malts sold to the public. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration.

It was drawn from a thick, heavy wash, building a deep malt of dried fruit and dark sugar. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood working deep into the malt. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin rounding out as esters lend riper orchard fruit and a chocolate depth. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time.

At a natural 60.4% it is full and rich. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A dark chocolate and a soft oak give it weight. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is a deep, sherried Speyside single malt.