Glenfarclas 105 Cask Strength Single Malt Scotch Whisky 700ml

Cask strength whiskies have not always been available to the general public. In fact, the very idea was incidental, and only materialised in 1968 when a fourth generation member of the Grant family bottled a single cask straight from the warehouse, and sent the bottles to family and friends as Christmas gifts. George S. Grant created a simple, hand written label for the bottles noting only the name of the distillery and the strength of the whisky (which happened to be 105 British Proof.) By the end of January the recipients requested further bottles. George obliged, and since then, Glenfarclas 105 has gone onto become one of the most highly sought after expressions in the Glenfarclas range.

The increasing popularity of cask strength single malts comes as no surprise. They provide an opportunity to taste whisky in its purest and most natural form without visiting a distillery, and conversely, to dilute to your preferred strength rather than the bottler's. Typically, they have minimal or zero filtration which tends to retain more flavour and texture. One has to take the good with the bad. Extreme alcohol can be prickly, and can even anaesthetise the mouth resulting in a less pleasurable experience. A high tax/alcohol ratio also means such spirits can be excessively pricey. If there was a holy grail of malt, then for many it would be the discovery of affordable cask strength whisky that's also achieved balance - to the degree that you can enjoy it undiluted. This is one. There are 'softer' cask strength releases on the market, but rarely in this style and very, very rarely at this price/volume ratio.