Glenfarclas The Family Casks 18 Years Old 2004

An 18 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 2004, cask 2384, at 58.8%, 624 bottles in all. Glenfarclas, the glen of green grass, is a richly sherried Speyside single malt. Its spirit is matured almost wholly in sherry butts brought up from Jerez. It has been run by six generations of the Grant family, one of Scotch whisky's last truly independent houses. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch.

It was distilled to a rich, generous cut, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. It was fully matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood deep in the rich spirit. Through oxidative maturity the esters concentrate, the orchard notes turning to raisin, fig and a dark chocolate. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch.

At 58.8%, undiluted, it is dark and full. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Beneath it run dried fruit, dark sugar and a warm spice. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is the family sherry malt of Ballindalloch.