Glenfarclas The Family Malt Collection 12 Years Old 1990

A distillery release of Glenfarclas, a 12 year old, from 1990, 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 six stills are the largest in Speyside and among the very few still fired directly, now by gas. Its water rises from the granite of Ben Rinnes, above the distillery at Ballindalloch.

It was distilled to a rich, generous cut, for a weighty, nutty spirit the sherry then deepens. It was matured in refill ex-Bourbon oak, a soft vanilla beneath the fruit. In integration coconut and vanilla knit with the malt, the orchard notes deepening to sultana, date and chocolate. The cool, slow dunnage ageing loses little to evaporation, the spirit holding its depth. Active wood drives the maturation, the cask deep in the malt.

Bottled at 43%, it is rounded and full. Fig, walnut and a bittersweet chocolate, lifted by a sweet oak. Beneath it run dried fruit, dark sugar and a warm spice. The finish is rounded, dark and spiced. This is Glenfarclas's deep, fruity Speyside style.