Glenfarclas The Family Malt Collection 27 Years Old 1974

Glenfarclas from the distillery, a 27 year old, from 1974, at 43%. 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 was worked unhurried through the stillhouse, for the rich, sherried make Glenfarclas is known for. 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. Long ageing turns the fresh notes towards date, prune and a dark, bittersweet chocolate. The full bodied spirit takes active sherry wood well, carrying its dark sugars through the years. Maturation runs slow and even in the dunnage warehouses at Ballindalloch. Vanillin and oak lactones from the wood lend vanilla and a soft coconut over the fruit.

Bottled at 43%, it is rounded and full. 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. A long finish carries raisin, chocolate and a treacle. This is Glenfarclas's deep, fruity Speyside style.