Glenfarclas, The Decanter Series no. 5, Cask 933 (2011)

THE HOLY SPIRITS VIEW

The fifth and final decanter in Glenfarclas’s Decanter Series, five decanters over five years for five generations of the Grant family. It is a single first-fill Oloroso butt of 15-year-old, the age Chairman John Grant calls his favourite in the range, and it is bottled at a full 60% ABV. This is a rare chance to taste the 15 year old in its raw cask-strength form, finished in a Glencairn crystal decanter and presented in a wooden gift box.

THE DISTILLERY

Glenfarclas has been owned by the Grant family since 1865, six generations of independent, family-run whisky-making in Ballindalloch, Speyside. It has some of Speyside’s largest stills, heated directly by gas, and matures almost entirely in sherry casks in traditional dunnage warehouses. The 15 year old is its signature: bottled at 46% ever since George S. Grant stretched a single cask to fill 230 Christmas bottles for his friends.

THE WHISKY: THE DECANTER SERIES NO. 5, CASK 933

Distilled on 11 April 2011 and bottled on 30 June 2026 after fifteen years in a single first-fill Oloroso sherry butt, cask 933. Natural colour, natural cask strength, 60% ABV (105 proof). Presented in a Glencairn crystal decanter, in a wooden gift box. It closes a series that began with a 25 year old in 2022, followed by a Port pipe, a cask from the year 2000, and the last cask of the millennium.

TASTING NOTES

Raspberries, oranges, tangerines first, dark chocolate, brown sugar, sherry-soaked oak sitting underneath. Palate powerful, robust, creamy and oily, dates, pecan nuts, caramelised apples. Finish extremely long, liquorice, black pepper, a touch of cocoa, sweet sherried Seville oranges lingering. A proper sherry bomb, uncompromising. Stunning concentration for fifteen years.

Serve: Neat, in a Glencairn glass, with a few drops of water to calm the 60% and open the orange and chocolate.