Glenfarclas The Family Casks 24 Years Old 1992

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 24 year old, from 1992, cask 862, at 59%, 614 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a richly sherried Speyside single malt, run by the Grant family since 1865. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s. Its slow, cool dunnage maturation loses very little to the angels each year. It was licensed in 1836 under Robert Hay and bought in 1865 by John Grant for 511 pounds.

The spirit was distilled to a rich, generous cut, for the rich, sherried make Glenfarclas is known for. Maturation came in an Oloroso sherry cask, layered over the full Glenfarclas make. Through the evaporative decades the esters fold into raisin, fig, beeswax and a bittersweet chocolate. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years.

At its natural 59% it is rich and chewy. A rich orchard sweetness and dark sugar, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. It finishes long, full and fruity. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.