Glenfarclasses


January 17, 2022

Glen
far
clas
ses

I believe no one's ever decided on the plural for 'Glenfarclas'. Is it Glenfarclasses? Is it Glenfarcli? Glenfarclii? Reminds me of that old joke 'Please one Glenfarclas! While you're at it, make that two...' Let's have a few more from our older boxes, completely at random…

Glenfarclas 10 yo 2005/2015 (60.9%, OB, Tiger's Finest Selection, China, cask #2424)

It was about time, I agree. The tiger is not me. Colour: dark amber. Nose: chocolate and coffee all over the place, with very tiny hints of gunpowder and new rubber. Gradually switches to meaty and fermentary sauces, hoisin, bulldog, also copper polish. Something metallic, not unpleasant at all. With water: autumn leaves and cigars, copper polish, magazines and just a load of bitter chocolate. Cocoa, Van Houten… Mouth (neat): thick and rich chocolate, malt extracts, stout, walnut wine and brandy de Jerez, with some salty sauce. Worcester. Some earlier batches of the famous '105' have been like this, as far as I can remember. With water: sweeter and fruitier, much more marmalade-y, as expected. Raisins. Finish: long, thick, raisiny. Comments: as some stupid writer would have, well, written, like brandy de Jerez but incomparably better than any brandy de Jerez. Great drop for Taiwan (I seem to remember), mega-good.
SGP:651 - 88 points.

Glenfarclas 1991/2007 (57.9%, OB, Family Cask, #5623, 613 bottles)

An old sample from the Malt Maniacs Awards that I was still having. Frankly, they usually don't keep that long, decanting your best bottles into some wee 5 or 10cls mini-bottles is not a good idea if your aim is to keep them for years. Whisky's more fragile than you think and plastics, all of them, are your worst enemies. Never, ever believe makers or merchants' websites. Colour: amber. Nose: I've kept this one in my glass for a good one hour so that it could breathe. With success I have to say, these grassy raisins and figs being of erstwhile quality. Sweet mushroom sauce. With water: some paraffin - tsk tsk, that's the old sample. Paraffin is good when it's integrated, it's a bad sign when it literally 'covers' everything. Mouth (neat): thick walnut wine, chestnut liqueur, plus some gravy and some oloroso from a good house. With water: Seville oranges and meaty liqueurs, but this paraffin gives it away: it's wrecked to some extend. Finish: forget. Comments: it's got some wonderful afterglows and stuff, but it's wrecked. What's great is that those flaws are extremely easy to detect. Having said that, keeping such a sample for more than ten ears is a terrible idea in the first place, unless you've cryogenised it. Now, cold kills oils…
SGP:481 – (no) points.

Glenfarclas 10 yo 2006/2016 (60.3%, OB, for Mr Tiger, China, sherry, cask #618, 640 bottles)

Let's pray… Colour: mahogany. Nose: chocolate everywhere, as a soup, as a drink, as a tea, as a sauce… With water: old guns and new books. How literary, eh! (that was lousy at best, S.) Mouth (neat): perfect state, ueber-rich, extremely gamey, full of soy sauce, hoisin, chocolate, tabasco, mole, Maggi, glutamate… With water: these ones would send you to Jerez rather than to Ballindalloch, and we shan't complain. A lot of chocolate, coffee, salty meaty sauces, ham, balsamicos, black olives, bitter chocolates… Finish: long, very dry, very chocolaty. Chewing your cigar. Comments: I seem to notice that these thickish styles are slowly drifting away and leaving today's whiskydom. We should discuss these issues, should we not. Oh yeah, this is very good.
SGP:362 - 87 points.

Glenfarclas 2006/2016 (60.4%, OB, sherry butt, cask #619, 561 bottles)

A neighbouring sister cask! How cool is that, after so many years? Colour: coffee. Nose: coffee, roasted chestnuts, pine needles, umami sauce. That's about it. With water: metal polish and an old Norton motorcycle. Beat this and we talk later. Mouth (neat): brilliant, aggressive, complex, salty, rustic, civilised, vinegary, friendly, chocolaty. Long story short, it was/is brilliant. With water: an extreme sherry monster, and yet there is some elegance in there. Glazed chestnuts, for example. Finish: long and very salty. It's gotten a soup. Comments: Glenfarclas, rather than Glendronach, have taken over from Macallan's, everyone's knowing that - this was just another element of proof. Cheques to 'Whiskyfun Barbados S.A.' please.
SGP:472 - 88 points.

Glenfarclas '105' (60%, OB, 100cl, +/- 2016)

Just for fun, we all know this one, which we're following year after year. So, we're simply filling a hole here, let's do this quickly… By the way, is it 8 or is it not 8? Colour: deep gold. Nose: butterscotch. I'd bet they've changed the way they're preparing the casks. More charring? With water: lovely maltiness, sweet and round beers, breads, focaccias, Mars bars, Twixes, millionaire shortbread… Mouth (neat): excellent. Cakes, nuts, malt, marmalade, touch of ginger. With water: careful, this is its Achilles' heel. The 105 never took water lightly, if you ask me, probably a matter of oils. Some struck matches and simply sulphur coming out. Finish: not great, vegetal… Comments: all batches are different, this is perhaps not one of the best. For example, one from 2020 has been much higher in my book (WF 87).
SGP:361 - 81 points.

Speyside's Finest 16 yo 2004/2020 (53.1%, The Whisky Mercenary, for Whisky Troef, refill sherry, 115 bottles)

A drunken little bird told me this was Glenfarclas. Colour: white wine. Nose: the fatter side of Glenfarclas, otherwise an average barleyness and some breads. With water: putty and herbal teas. Mouth (neat): very good cakes, then some lousier leathers. Perhaps not the greatest indie GF. With water: a little better, beerish. Finish: rather long, unexpectedly grassy. Kirschwasser and tourist's slivovitz. Comments: perhaps not exactly Speyside's 'finest', perhaps not quite this time, if I may… And perhaps not even GF, I might be completely wrong.
SGP:461 - 79 points.

I have a bad feeling, but redemption might be close…

Glenfarclas 17 yo 2004/2021 (53.5%, OB, Autumn Edition, Netherlands, sherry cask)

Cross fingers, our dear Dutch friends deserve it, after all they're supposed to sink into the Atlantic anytime soon according to some lousy press… Colour: gold. Nose: modern and very nice. Lovely cappuccino and nougats, having said that this could be any Distillery up there. Butterscotch, Guinness, malt extracts, green walnuts… With water: ? Bitter beers. Mouth (neat): a tad oak-forward, frankly. Bitter, oak spices… Gets a little too spicy, difficult. With water: to be fair, someone very thirsty after having crossed the Sahara on a camel would drink a whole glass of this. Otherwise, I think it's a very heavy spicy drop. Finish: dry, grassy, a little unpleasant in my opinion, a little too concoctiony. Comments: something must have happened. Like, some alien life form has stolen this sample at WF Towers and replaced it with some Kazakh turnip and allspice eau-de-vie aged in some IBC with toasted pinewood chips. Or a wrecked sample indeed.
SGP:461 - 78 points.

Let's cut to the chase here, it was downward spiral anyway. But accidents happen and as always, all a matter of individual taste. What's more, this many sherry monsters within one single session might not be a good idea. Sherry fatigue? Pace e salute.

HOLD ON. Would you believe this, as soon as I was finished with this spiralling session, a new Glenfarclas rang at the door (so to speak). And since I hadn't published my session yet, I could just add this wee newcomer at the last minute…

Glenfarclas 43 yo 1977/2021 (43.1%, OB, private for Jeroboams, fourth fill oloroso sherry hogshead, cask #7288, 215 bottles)

Glenfarclas 43 yo 1977/2021 (43.1%, OB, private for Jeroboams, fourth fill oloroso sherry hogshead, cask #7288, 215 bottles)
These are interesting vintages because 1977 was, as far as I know, the very beginning of the so-called whisky loch. The fact that they knew it was 4th fill is great too (that would suggest they had always been using the cask themselves). And we tend to love refill, after the aforementioned heavy sherry monsters… Colour: light gold; Nose: echoes of some older 'white label tall bottle' expressions, which is pretty good news. Especially this floral side (dandelions, acacia) mingled with many things almondy, such as, well, almonds but also plum spirits, apricot spirit, marzipan, small berries (sorb)… In truth it reminds me of my grandmother's mirabelle tarte, which she would have scattered with ground almonds because 'almonds would soak up the juice'. After five minutes, roasted peanuts and pecans would show up, together with sugarcane honey and maple syrup. After ten minutes, whiffs of old hessian and old wine cellar emerging. Old tools, old paint pot, old putty. It's a movie-malt, it keeps changing and telling you stories. Mouth: the wonders of refill. There's quite some oak but it expresses itself through many infusions (rosehip, lime-flower), embrocations, the same kinds of almondy notes as on the nose… Then we have roasted and caramelised nuts as well as roasted raisins – I suppose the first fill version was a true sherry monster – and many honeys, plus some lighter tangerine liqueur and syrup. Zests. Finish: longer and fresher than expected, rather more honeyed, with a little mint. No straight tannicity whatsoever. Limoncello in the aftertaste. Comments: truly exceptional and wonderfully drinkable (careful!) The fruitiness is remarkable. I remember a 1977/2017 'Family Cask' that came from a 4th fill hogshead as well and that had been brilliant indeed. I'd love to know when the cask was filled for the first time, having said that. Even before WWII?
SGP:651 - 91 points.

Check the index of all Glenfarclas we've tasted so far