Glenfarclas The Family Casks 21 Years Old 2003

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 21 year old, from 2003, cask 1972, at 55.5%, 564 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year. Direct firing chars the wash a little, lending the rich, nutty depth Glenfarclas is known for. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s.

The spirit was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the American oak lending vanilla and a light honey. At oxidative maturity aldehydes lend a nutty edge while ellagitannins draw a drying, structured grip across the fruit. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

At 55.5%, undiluted, it is dark and full. Fig, walnut and a bittersweet chocolate, lifted by a sweet oak. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is a richly sherried Speyside single malt.