Glenfarclas The Family Casks 14 Years Old 1998

A 14 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1998, cask 8976, at 58%, 190 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt drawn from the largest, direct fired stills in Speyside. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. Direct firing chars the wash a little, lending the rich, nutty depth Glenfarclas is known for. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez.

Distilled in copper pot stills, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. Through integration spirit and wood marry, vanillin rounding out as esters lend riper orchard fruit and a chocolate depth. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt.

At its natural 58% it is rich and chewy. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. Dried fruit, spice and a soft oak see it out. This is the family sherry malt of Ballindalloch.