Glenfarclas The Family Casks 12 Years Old 2008 Cask #2437

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 12 year old, from 2008, cask 2437, at 56.8%, 312 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt matured almost wholly in sherry casks from Jerez. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration.

The spirit was distilled in copper pot stills, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood working deep into the malt. In integration coconut and vanilla knit with the malt, the orchard notes deepening to sultana, date and chocolate. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register.

At its natural 56.8% it is rich and chewy. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is Glenfarclas's deep, fruity Speyside style.