NV Glenfarclas, 185th Anniversary Release (46%)

Launched to commemorate the family-owned Glenfarclas’s 185th anniversary of licensed distilling, this is a truly special single malt. The Speyside team painstakingly added two or three casks at a time into the marrying vat until six decades’ worth of whisky from 35 casks went into the batch. The spectrum of cask age is immediately apparent due to the complexity of the nose: ground coffee bean and melted caramel line up alongside milk chocolate with raisin inclusions, plus a dusting of coconut flakes, and a burst of fresh melon. With a little time the fruit becomes drier, with fig and date coming through, in addition to a marzipan richness. A tropical fruit vibrancy can be found too, from juicy roasted pineapple to a suggestion of papaya. An incredibly sumptuous palate opens with fresh apricot and dusty sherbet, before deepening into walnut and chocolate notes, darker this time. There’s now cashew alongside the almond, and a multitude of sweet spices: cloves, vanilla pods, cardamom, cinnamon, and even a whisper of ginger. The palate is underpinned by an earthiness, alongside impressions of a pine forest. The wealth of flavour is wrapped up in a deep velvet mouthfeel – a treat for the senses. Long, rich, almost buttery, with layer after layer of fruit-forward complexity.