Glenfarclas The Family Malt Collection 11 Years Old 2002

This official Glenfarclas, an 11 year old, from 2002, at 43%. Glenfarclas is a Speyside single malt, the house behind the pioneering 105 cask strength. It holds some sixty eight thousand casks on site in dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year since 1953. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch. Its whiskies are bottled at their natural colour, without chill filtration. It draws on that deep inventory for the Family Casks, single vintages reaching back to the 1950s.

It 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. By the integrating teens the raw notes fade and esters build, the rich spirit growing rounder and darker. 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 43% it is smooth and rich. A deep, dark sweetness, with dried fruit, fig and walnut from the cask. Dried fruit and a treacle sit behind the spice. It finishes long, full and fruity. This is a dark, fruity Speyside single malt.