Glenfarclas The Family Casks 22 Years Old 1996

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 22 year old, from 1996, cask 24, at 58.9%, 515 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a deep, dark Speyside malt of dried fruit, nut and spice. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration.

The spirit was distilled in copper pot stills, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. Ex-Bourbon casks held it, the American oak lending vanilla and a light honey. Through the evaporative decades the esters fold into raisin, fig, beeswax and a bittersweet chocolate. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Years in oak deepen the spirit to a darker gold, the body growing rounder and more resinous with time. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

Bottled at a cask strength 58.9%, it is deep and concentrated. Orange, raisin and a treacle edge, lifted by a sweet oak. A dark chocolate and a soft oak give it weight. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is a richly sherried Speyside single malt.