Glenfarclas 105 60%
Tasted: Sept 2005
Clean aromas of dark malt, vanilla fudge, Assam tea and dried fruit all set against a background of clean sherry.
Dry, medium bodied, intense, oily apricot, rich malt, coffee, dried fruit, wood tannins, assam tea leaves, integrated clean sherry and a long complex finish.
Water brings out a custard cream note plus a touch of gun flint and floor polish. It softens the palate brining out the rich fruit cake flavours, still the tannins and the tea leaves remain on the finish.
Glenfarclas 105 60%
Re-Tasted: July 2012
An intense and edgy nose of Amontillado-esque dried fruit and nuts. Slightly herbal with some latent honey and balsamic notes. With time it becomes very herbaceous and an Assam tea note (which I often find) is present. It seems like the nose is a lot more woody and drier than I remember it (mind that was 7 years ago!), not only the obvious sherry wood but quite a degree of American oak notes as well.
The palate is relatively light and honeycombed to begin with before the herbal sherry arrives brining plenty of tannins, coffee and liquorice. The alcohol is piquant and eye-watering. Quite a malty middle with a suggestion of grass and an almost grain spirit intensity. Very long with some succulent, honeyed sweet raisins on the finish and a very light sulphur note.
With water the raisinated dried fruit notes are emphasised as is the sulphur note unfortunately. On the palate the oak becomes softer and allows the honeyed fruit to become more dominant as the sherry notes are pushed to the edge. Very long now and juicy with a lovely peppery, spicy finish.
Glenfarclas 105 60%
Btl Code: L 26 03 19/ Btl: 2019/ Tasted: Mar 2020
The nose is pungent, earthy and industrial with grippy, alcohol enhanced tannins, raisins, sultana, leafy, astringent Oloroso notes, manure, green nuts, coffee and malt.
The palate is a little sweeter than the nose but still not exactly what you would call soft. Dunnage laced sherried dried fruit, liquorice and industrial barley follow. Subtly malty and astringent with coffee, leafy Oloroso, green nuts and olives on the middle. The alcohol is well integrated but does mask the finish a little. Good tobacco, coffee and bitter chocolate tannin after-taste.
A drop of water doesn’t make much change to the nose. A little oilier and less grippy but its still industrial and sherried. The palate is a little softer but still sherried and nutty with more sultana, more bitter chocolate and more hard as nails malt. It’s also ramped up the intensity of bitter tannins on the finish but it has also brought out an odd perfumed orange note. Definitely uncompromising.
Glenfarclas ‘The W Club Bottling’ 2003 (9 year old) 46%
Sherry/ Dist: 2003 Btl: 2012/ Tasted: April 2012
A good, clean, coffee’d Oloroso nose. Pretty dark with treacle, molasses, sawdust, baked apple, prune and hints of cinnamon.
The palate is soft and spicy with (obviously) plenty of Olososo dried fruit. Good intensity and complexity from the wood, plenty of cinnamon, walnuts, dates, sweet muscavado sugar along with a touch of smoke and a slight violet note in the finish. All cask derived but a lovely, clean cask! It’s surprisingly refined for a young malt.
Glenfarclas 10 year old 40%
Tasted: Sept 2005
Clean, pronounced dark malt and rich Oloroso sherry. Very deep with a balanced citrus sharpness.
Dry, medium-full bodied with rich malt, Oloroso sherry, nuts, fudge and dried fruit. Lovely piquant middle, long finish with a dark, bitter liquorice/ dried fruit note.
Glenfarclas 10 year old 40%
Re-tasted: May 2019
The nose appears to display more refill sherry these days, thus the slightly hard barley ‘distillery character’ is evident. Hints of toffee, malt, raisin, sultana and dried grape emerge along with a touch of sweet prune and late gooseberry.
The palate is relatively simple. malty and sherried, but blemish free with slightly hard barley, toffee, prune, raisin and bittering tannins. It darkens on the middle. Short, hard finish with lingering malt, coffee, hard spirit and wood spice. To be honest I’m not getting enough sweetness from the sherry to balance the spirit character.
Glenfarclas 2003 (10 year old) 43%
Bottled for M&S/ Dist: 2003 Btl: 2013/ Tasted: Dec 2013
A nose of clean, nutty sherry, ripe orange, tangerine, leafy herbs, tobacco and malt. Classic 10 year old Glenfarclas really.
The palate is soft and malty. Quite nutty with leafy Oloroso sherry. Dry and woody on the middle and a little hot on the finish, but pleasant enough.
Glenfarclas 15 year old 46%
Tasted: Sept 2005
Clean, deeper nose than the 10. This is more about the wood than the spirit. Lovely intense complexity of orange citrus fruit, ferns, minerals and unfortunately some vegetal notes.
Dry, cleaner than the nose with crisp, intense apricot and slightly oily/ creamy citrus fruits. Hints of ferns/ bracken, with the wood tannins very evident on the finish. Firm, medium bodied, good length with a touch of smoke.
Glenfarclas 15 year old 46%
Code: L12 09 14/ Btl: 2014/ Tasted: Dec 2014
Quite crisp and fresh aromas of barley, tangerine, satsuma, prune, apricot and a touch of dusty sherry spice – clove and cinnamon. Lightly granity and earthy with the earthiness hiding a slight blemish.
The palate is soft and juicy with a touch of Christmas pudding dried fruit, tangerine, barley, ark chocolate and earth, which once again appears to be attempting to conceal the light blemish. Fresh and granity on the middle, which leads into a quite austere finish as the sherry sweetness is pushed aside by the alcohol and granity notes. Light cocoa powder after-taste.
Glenfarclas 15 year old 46%
Re-Tasted: June 2019
Aromas of herbal and grainy dried fruit, syrup, bruised apple and a touch of orange. Showing a little more first fill sherry character than the 10 year old with late prune, raisin and oxidised fruit.
The palate opens with some light wood smoke and herbal Oloroso. Hints of bitter chocolate, bruised apple, raisin and sultana follow. Intense, spicy middle and finish with lingering dark chocolate and drying, slightly bitter tannins. Unsurprisingly it’s all about the sherry.
Glenfarclas 17 year old 43%
Code: L 02 06 14/ Btl: 2014/ Tasted: Mar 2015
A clean and very creamy, toffee’d nose. Using less sherry casks in this bottling allows the fruit and the slightly industrial character of the distillery to show. Dried orange, tangerine, angelica, lightly perfumed peach and sultana can be detected. Quite balanced with developing Colombian coffee and herbal notes.
The palate opens with some soft demerara sugar and honey along with a light industrial note. Toffee and toasted vanilla follow along with some light sherried dried fruit. Lovely, spicy, vibrant finish.
Glenfarclas 21 year old 43%
Tasted: Sept 2005
Aromas of Brandy butter and trifle. Floral barley notes with undertones of sweet dried sherry fruit and coconut.
Velvety on the palate with gippy, coffee’d oak and sweet dried fruit. Medium bodied, very smooth and smoky with a long drying finish.
Glenfarclas 21 year old 43%
Re-Tasted: June 2019
The nose displays more fill sherry character than the 15 year old with full on sherried dried fruit, herbs and dark chocolate. There are less oxidised fruit notes than the 15 year old and a lot more wood. Late hints of vanilla and dark-ish honey.
The palate is soft and opens with dark toffee coated dried fruit. Mellow but like the nose quite woody. Herbal, slightly bitter tannic middle. Reasonable length with drying, gritty tannins, spice, vanilla and ground coffee.
Glenfarclas The Family Casks – Whisky Shop Dufftown Exclusive 1991 (22 year old) 53.8%
Cask 5691/ Dist: June 1991 Btl: Mar 2014/ Tasted: Sept 2016
A gritty, tannic, splinters in the nostrils sherry. Mature, pruney and balsamic with dried black grape, pepper, treacle and lightly herbal coffee note.
The palate is a little softer as the huge gobs of treacle coat the tannins. All cask orientated with dried fruit and coffee. Fairly alcoholic but the treacle doesn’t give in to it. Long, succulent and very juicy with dark toffee, citrus and raw cask chocolatey tannins and cocoa powder. In conclusion: If I wanted to drink sherry then I’d open a bottle of sherry. If I wanted to drink whisky………..
Glenfarclas 25 year old 43%
Tasted: June 2019
The nose is quite reserved with subtle floral notes. Less overt and subtler on the sherry, although that is still the focus. Hints of menthol, baked apple, earth, coffee and walnuts. With time a slight citric (grapefruit/ lemon) note appears.
The palate is soft and mellow with subtly spiced and herbal baked apple. More laid back than the 21 year old with hints of brown sugar and developing bitter tannins on the middle. Long and spicy with some sweet pruney fruit, dried orange, grapefruit, toffee and milk chocolate coming through on the finish. In fact it’s only on the finish that this
Glenfarclas The Family Casks 1953 (55 years old) 53.7%
Sherry Butt 1678/ Dist: 1953 Btl: 2008/ Tasted: Aug 2010
The nose is as one expected it to be. A big, nutty, coffee laced, mature sherry monster with a slight leafiness. Quite linear, but for a sherry cask this old it has a lovely freshness and an earthy complexity of toffee, walnuts and associated wood notes.
The palate is dry, woody and so tannic it’s unbelievable. The tannins are a bit on the green side and it feels like one has been licking the inside of the cask. Funnily enough there’s not much distillery character or even spirit character present.
With water it becomes slightly sugary, but that’s about it. Impressive if you like this sort of whisky and at around £750-£800, you’ve really got to like woody old sherried malts!
Whisky According to Chris Whiskyman 