Glenfarclas The Family Casks 22 Years Old 2000 Cask #23

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 22 year old, from 2000, cask 23, at 56.3%, 548 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt matured almost wholly in sherry casks from Jerez. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch.

The spirit was distilled in copper pot stills, the direct fired stills lending a nutty depth. It was fully matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood deep in the rich spirit. In the oxidative, evaporative years the spirit concentrates to dried fruit, dark chocolate and a waxy, resinous depth. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register.

At a hearty 56.3% it carries real weight. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. It is full and fruity, the spirit carrying the cask. The finish is long, rich and spiced. This is a richly sherried Speyside single malt.