Glenfarclas The Family Casks 15 Years Old 2009

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 15 year old, from 2009, cask 1117, at 61.5%, 627 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a richly sherried Speyside single malt, run by the Grant family since 1865. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s.

It was run slowly off the spirit still, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. Into oxidative maturity, slow air builds ripe esters and a darker chocolate, fig and date depth. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch.

At its natural 61.5% it is rich and chewy. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The mouthfeel is full and coating, the fruit dark and sweet. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is Glenfarclas's deep, fruity Speyside style.