Glenfarclas The Family Casks 29 Years Old 1990

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 29 year old, from 1990, cask 1188, at 53.1%, 186 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s.

The spirit was run slowly off the spirit still, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. It was matured in an Oloroso sherry cask, the wood working deep into the malt. In the oxidative, evaporative years the spirit concentrates to dried fruit, dark chocolate and a waxy, resinous depth. The wood frames the spirit without ever stripping the full Speyside body. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

At a natural 53.1% it is full and rich. Baked apple, honey and a dark chocolate, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. A dark chocolate and a soft oak give it weight. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.