Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Strength: 43%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Sherry Oloroso
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: J. & G. Grant
Average price: € 104.00
Official website: www.glenfarclas.com
Vote: 84/100
After a long time, the Glenfarclas distillery returns to these pages, with its whiskies steeped in Sherry that go way beyond trivial and mundane.
An important maturation for this bottling of the basic portfolio, which is surpassed only by 25, 30 and 40 years old, all in Oloroso Sherry (unlike an earlier version also in Bourbon) and presented in its natural state, with a softened alcohol content.
Rumoured to be George Grant’s favourite…
Tasting notes
Amber in the glass.
The nose is dense and warm, with a jammy profile of berries, cherries in spirit, blood orange, mulled wine and a soft, very caressing note of honey. An elegant profile, from which touches of vanilla, marzipan and butter also emerge. The Sherry worked really well.
Pleasant touch of ginger in the mouth, offering a rich palate of nuts (hazelnuts and pecans) accompanied by panforte, cinnamon, orange marmalade, dates, honey drops, lemon zest. Persistent bitterish vein of rhubarb, dry woody note along the length. A balanced whole but a little diluted in the low alcohol content.
The finish is moderately long and spicy, dry, of hazelnuts, orange, rhubarb and wood.
The nose is truly magnificent, but in the mouth it loses a lot, partly due to dilution and partly to the intrusive presence of wood. Perhaps a few degrees more would have helped, also because the game of sweet and bitter tones works and is fun, but is disturbed by the wood and the lack of incisiveness. Definitely worth trying, especially if you like Sherried and this distillery.
Reviews of Glenfarclas whisky in the blog
Other perspectives:
DrinkHacker