Glenfarclas The Family Casks – Millennium Cask 23 Years Old 1999

A 23 year old Glenfarclas, a distillery bottling, from 1999, cask 7512, at 50%, 203 bottles in all. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, one of the last great family owned distilleries in Scotch. Its six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s.

Distilled to a rich, generous cut, giving a deep, full bodied Speyside spirit. An Oloroso sherry cask held it, drawing the rich spirit on over the years. In the oxidative, evaporative years the spirit concentrates to dried fruit, dark chocolate and a waxy, resinous depth. The full spirit deepens with time, the cask drawing out its darker register. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate.

At its natural 50% it is rich and chewy. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Fig, honey and a dark chocolate fill the middle. The finish is long, rich and spiced. This is a richly sherried Speyside single malt.