Glenfarclas The Family Casks 17 Years Old 2001 Cask #3297

This official Glenfarclas, a 17 year old, from 2001, cask 3297, at 56.9%, 284 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. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration.

It was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. A bourbon barrel held it, the wood adding a soft honey over the fruit. Through oxidative maturity the esters concentrate, the orchard notes turning to raisin, fig and a dark chocolate. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth.

At its natural 56.9% it is rich and chewy. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, lifted by a sweet oak. A baked apple and a warm cinnamon lift the middle. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is the family sherry malt of Ballindalloch.