Glenfarclas The Family Casks 16 Years Old 2007

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 16 year old, from 2007, cask 2669, at 60.1%, 634 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt matured almost wholly in sherry casks from Jerez. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953.

The spirit was distilled to a rich, generous cut, shaping a rich Speyside body with real weight. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood working deep into the malt. Into oxidative maturity, slow air builds ripe esters and a darker chocolate, fig and date depth. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

Bottled at a cask strength 60.1%, it is deep and concentrated. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. The body is full and rich, the fruit deep and dark. The finish runs long, full and warming. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.