I really love Glenfarclas. At least, I really want to love Glenfarclas. Why? Glenfarclas remains a family concern, located in the heart of Speyside. Their stills continue to be direct-fired and their whisky is matured in 30 traditional dunnage warehouses, on the distillery grounds. Glenfarclas don’t colour (at least not excessively) their whiskies (predominately, but not exclusively, matured in Oloroso sherry casks) and they don’t chill-filter some, such as the 105 and the 15 year old.
When distilleries began closing their doors during the sales nosedive of the 1980’s, Glenfarclas kept their stills cooking and consequently still have stock of older whiskies. In fact, Glenfarclas offer so many different age statements at any given time, that choosing one can be baffling, and sometimes, disappointing.
As old whiskies go, Glenfarcli are generally pretty good value. Nevertheless, the 21 year old will usually set one back almost twice as much coin as the 12, with the 15 slotting neatly in-between and the 8 & 10 a little less, usually. The close price proximity of the 8, 10 & 12 should eliminate the younger two 40%ABV whiskies (the 12 is 43%) from consideration. The 12 is better than both and also better value in a 1 liter bottle. At the time of writing, a 700ml, 40%ABV 8 year old will set one back the same amount as a 1L 43% 12; it’s a no-brainer. The 17 and 21 are also 43%ABV. The 15 is a more substantial 46% and the 105 a glorious 60%ABV.
Glenfarclas 12 Year Old 43%ABV
Colour: Old gold.
Nose: Ripe oranges, apples and sherry with a hint of fennel. More spirity than the age suggests, which compliments all that sherry and orange nicely. It is the obligatory Christmas cake, but a rather fresh, young one, and not particularly intense. It’s not a Sherry Monster, more a Sherry Pup. A few drops of water settles the spirit and integrates everything nicely. Just a few drops, mind you; this pup is easily drowned.
Palate: Sherry sweetness, Cointreau, vanilla, toffee and ginger that develops nicely into a dryer, oaky finish of medium length. A good, straightforward, unpretentious dram.
84/100
Glenfarclas 15 Year Old 46%ABV
Colour: Amber.
Nose: Rich Oloroso sherry, dried fruits, freshly baked bread, yeast, mixed herbs and wet oak.
Palate: Gently blooms in the mouth as it coats every corner. A rich sherry entry develops into mouthwatering toffee cake, walnut and a touch of spearmint, which lingers, nay, grows, through a long finish. Red fruits and cough-drops on a backdrop of drying oak appear mid-palate, all seamlessly entwined in its sherry foundations; a veritable flavour floorshow.
88/100
Glenfarclas 21 Year Old 43%ABV
Colour: Amontillado sherry.
Nose: Old sherry, perhaps too old, brown ale, oak, red fruits, wet leather, orange zest and white pepper. Complex, but subdued.
Palate: Sherry, rich milk chocolate, breakfast tea, macadamia nuts and tobacco. Butterscotch, cinnamon and pineapple emerge mid-palate. A somewhat bitter cocoa and malty finish, of moderate length, reprised by lingering tobacco. This is quite the chameleon, developing slowly in the glass. Savour it over half an hour, with a couple of drops of water; it will reward you with an astounding array of flavours. This is not an action movie; it is an exquisitely crafted period piece.
87/100
Verdict
These are all good whiskies, and all worth the price of admission. What surprises me is not how much they have in common, but how divergent their characters are. The 12 is a solid everyday dram, at a very reasonable price (in the 1L bottling). The 17 is decidedly energetic and quite charming, in its own way. The 21 offers hours of entertainment with its continuous evolution in the glass. Yet it is the 15 and 105 that stand out. The 15 is perhaps Glenfaclas’ perfect harmony of age, ABV and cost. The 105 is a cask-strength sherry tour de force. It’s the proverbial iron fist in a velvet glove, without the glove. So, if you have the funds to acquire all of these for your whisky collection, knock yourself out. But the two Glenfarcli that should be on everyone’s whisky shelf are the 15 and the 105.
William Crampton
Glenfarclas 17 Year Old 43%ABV
Colour: Deep gold.
Nose: Plums and apricot, strong oak, leather, black tea, malt, butterscotch and chamomile. Complex, with surprising vigour. Quite entertaining!
Palate: Malt, lots of malt, oak, milk chocolate, orange zest and butterscotch… Which is as delightful as it sounds, with a slightly aggressive edge that is not at all unappealing. The finish is medium-long and spicy, fading to a lingering dark chocolate aftertaste. Delicious stuff, yet not quite as appealing as the 15
86/100
Glenfarclas 105 60%ABV 2019 bottling
Colour: Deep copper.
Nose: Boom! Big sherry and oak. Stewed apple, dark brown sugar, chamomile, sweet apple pie, wet soil and saddle leather; yeah, kind of smells like a horse (which is strangely appealing).
Palate: With water; sherry, nutty, caramely, toffee-appley. Develops into a peanut-toffee-oak-sherry-spice detonation. It’s not so much a Sherry-Bomb but a Sherry-Nuke. With less H2O; malt, ripe apple, rich marmalade and hazelnut emerge. If you taste a sweet, silky, icing-sugar, that’s the finish; which means it’s time to pour another dram. It’s a big, intense, dirty bastard of a whisky, and it’s marvelous. This is the opposite of the 21. Nothing subtle about it. This won’t caress your senses; it’ll take you out the back and beat the living shit out of you, and you’ll love every moment of it.
86, + 1 for the sheer gall of it = 87/100
