GLENFARCLAS-GLENLIVET 1973 41YO - CADENHEAD AUTHENTIC COLLECTION

After my last post, I thought it would be fitting to do a post where, as I mentioned here, some Cadenhead bottling actually do carry the Glenfarclas name - and this one of them. Bottled back in 2014, this is not one you'll come across every day, but if you do and want to treat yourself to a little extra, go for it

This family-owned distillery -one of the last in Scotland- is one of my favorite distilleries, certainly in my top 3. Why? Because they still do things the way they want to - and not to satisfy a large number of shareholders demanding a return on their stock every year. And you know what? It works for Glenfarclas!

Glenfarclas seems to make consistently good whisky which is very important and also seems to be able to still source some very good casks - especially their sherry casks! Long-standing contracts with sherry producers have secured a steady flow of good sherry casks and we just have to cross our fingers that this will last.

Glenfarclas Distillery Visitors Centre, September 15th 2019 © The Malt Desk

Glenfarclas-Glenlivet 1973 41yo 40,7%, bottled July 2014, ex-bourbon hogshead, 186 bottles, Cadenhead Authentic Collection

Nose:
Very laid back, quite possibly because of the low abv
It has dusty wood, vanilla, loads of sugary notes, the artificial strawberry scent from the strawberry cream caramels. Also vanilla, a little wood sap, and fruits in there, loads of them! Sweet mandarins, mango juice, peaches, and banana. Very tropical but also with that little touch of wood to keep it all in place - Very nice and I like this dignified old-style bourbon cask that still manages to deliver in spite of its very long time in the cask. 

Taste:
Gentle, yet expressive arrival...

This is candied fruits galore, turning into a nice malty finish.
We're all over the fruit range here, from apple notes, apricot, lemons, and honeydew melon covered in vanilla and a sprinkle of icing sugar.
All this turns into a slightly drying gingery note and some dusty greenish wood along with a dominant malty note that eventually has to give away to a little
drying oak and a slight herbal note.

This is a delicate malt and bottled just in time at 40,7%.
Also, more time in the cask will probably have tipped this OTT and introduced far more drying and bitter notes.

But at this stage - lovely old stuff! and since I don't do ½ points

91/100!

'A SPEYSIDE DISTILLERY' 2001 18YO - CADENHEAD VIRTUAL OPEN DAY 2020

In September 2019, independent bottler Wm. Cadenhead did their first dedicated Open Day event - just for them called Cadenhead in the Courtyard.
This was a new type of event to make up for them having to share the Kilkerran Open Day during the Campbeltown Malts Festival in May. This day also gave Cadenheads the opportunity to feature only their bottlings and tastings and also release some bottlings only for this day, also. It was great fun and an event to look out for in the future.

This year the Campbeltown Malt Festival was, of course, canceled due to Covid - and so was the planned Cadenhead in the Courtyard even for September 2020.

Instead, a virtual festival was arranged, which each brand having its own virtual Open Day and a release of a virtual festival bottle.

The one offered on the Cadenhead Virtual Open Day was the bottle featured in the review below... it's only named 'A Speyside Distillery' which, with Cadenhead, usually means the family-owned distillery in the Valley of the Green Grass - and I'll go out on a limb here and go along with that.

It's not that Cadenheads never bottle anything with this particular distillery name on - but due to legal reasons, they can only bottle 2 or 3 a year if I remember correctly. I'll shortly be reviewing one that carries the GF name.

It's also not only Cadenhead that is limited to this and this distillery that imposes restrictions on names. Its widely seen across the whisky industry.
Other examples are names like Williamson & Leapfrog for Laphroaig and when the label says 'An Orkney Malt', you have a Highland Park.

On to the review...

Glenfarclas Distillery Visitors Center, September 23rd 2016 © The Malt Desk

'A Speyside Distillery' 2001 18yo 52,3% (dist. xx.10.2001 - bott xx.10.2020) 1 ex-bourbon + 1 ex-sherry cask, 552 bottles, Cadenhead Virtual Open Day 2020

Nose:

OK, I'm guessing that if you get this straight out of a newly open bottle you'll wrinkle your nose...
My bottle has now been open for a couple of weeks and the nose has certainly come to life with notes of malt barns, damp slightly bitter/sweet wood notes, brown sugar, cracked peppercorns and a slight sour note.
Various wood spices start to dominate a bit along with more dry and sweet sherry influence and a hint of milk chocolate bars.

All quite well - even though it doesn't seem to swim well

Taste:
Much better (without water, that is)

The sherry notes are coming through very clearly - though, I'm having a hard time determining if the wood spices that follow are from the bourbon or the sherry cask used.

I'm getting quite an active bourbon cask in the background (I might be wrong) then sweet and spicy, nutmeg, caramel, dark honey, a hint of dark chili-infused chocolate, drying cinnamon, powdered ginger, and hint of orange peel.

It's all very pleasant, but it's like it wants to allow both the bourbon and sherry cask to have their say but it's not allowing either or both to shine - it's like it has not had time to marry properly before being bottled.

This is not -by any account- a bad whisky scoring an 85/100
I just expected a bit more of this - especially given the circumstances surrounding this release.

85/100!

GLENFARCLAS 12 (2014) - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

Last week I reviewed a cracking 15yo Glenfarclas at Cask Strength bottled for The Whisky Exchange... so I thought I'd continue the Glenfarclas theme by reviewing the 12yo expression.

For more background information on Glenfarclas, I'd like to suggest you read the introductions to some of my other Glenfarclas reviews.

Glenfarclas casks in one of their traditional dunnage warehouses, May 4th 2015 © The Malt Desk

Glenfarclas 12yo (2014) 43%, Distillery bottling

Colour is light amber

Nose:
Sherry and malt sweetness. fresh raisins, ginger, nuts, toffee and slight floral notes. The sherry is ever present though never invading, easily letting the other notes through.

A great nose, in fact... everything seems to be in just the right measures 

Taste:
Candied fruits, mainly oranges, honey, ginger, milk chocolate, more toffee/cream caramel and nuts. The experience gets quite malty on the finish along with some nice balancing oak spiciness.

This is a noticeable lighter in style than the 15yo standard bottling at 46%.
I'm not quite sure of the exact cask makeup of this, but I'm guessing maybe a ration of 60/40% sherry/bourbon casks.

This will make for a nice introduction to new whisky drinkers and will also satisfy the more experienced drinker, maybe as an every day dram.

It's straight forward, no BS whisky and for a standard 12yo offering it does what its supposed to do + a little more. Add to that, that it can be picked up for around €35 in Mainland Europe - for 1 liter !  - so great value!!

85/100!

GLENFARCLAS 15YO 103 PROOF - DISTILLERY BOTTLING FOR THE WHISKY EXCHANGE

There's no denying it - Glenfarclas is one of my favourite distilleries and has been for over 10 years. Why? It's family owned (not really a reason - but I'm kind of a romantic, buhu!)...

No, let's be serious - I find Glenfarclas to deliver an incredibly consistent whisky and bottlings at every age, from the young and brute'ish 105 NAS to expressions as old as 60 years (out of most people's price range, of course). Add to that their incredible Family Cask series - so far the ones I've tried have all been excellent.

So what do I think makes Glenfarclas so good? Is it the barley? who knows... its about spirit yield these days and whatever strain of barley gives the best yield is often used and the barley for Glenfarclas comes from both the UK and mainland Europe - so no 'terroir' is really traceable there. The malting process is straight forward - done by commercial maltsters, so not guessing there's something special here either...

So how about water? its taken off of Benrinnes behind the distillery and is soft natural spring water, much like that many others producers use - so nothing special there either... in fact, some people say that the water doesn't have an effect on the final taste of the whisky...

Fermentation then? well, its done in stainless steel washbacks using a distillers yeast and goes on for at least 48 hours and usually longer over weekends. This creates the flavour compounds in the wash and without a degree in chemistry, its hard to pinpoint if some of the reason is hidden here...

So what do I think really matters - or at least stand out? 

First of all, the distillation process. This is certainly on my shortlist for what I think makes Glenfarclas one of my favourites... But isn't it done just at other distilleries? well, yes - but one main difference though. At Glenfarclas they direct fire their still using gas flames enclosed underneath their stills. This gives a more uneven heating of the stills, creating a fluctuation in the vapours making it across the swan neck before it condenses back into spirit.

I was told a story about how Glenfarclas from back when most distilleries were switching to steam heating (late 80s, I think it was).Glenfarclas also did some tests with this, but lab tests came back revealing a whole other composition of the Glenfarclas spirit - so they decided to stick with direct firing of their stills, although they did make adjustments to hide the naked flame to comply with new health & safety rules. As to a style change in other distilleries, I will not make any conclusions and have not heard any - although you often come across people mentioning the quality of whisky from when most distilleries still operated direct fired stills.

Also, one of the most important as well, is the casks used at Glenfarclas.
Mainly Oloroso sherry casks are used for maturation, but also Fino sherry casks are seen from time to time along with Port pipes. Bourbon casks are also used, but these are mainly sold off to the blending industry. The quality of the casks at Glenfarclas is kept high by a long time relationship with the Jose and Miguel Martin sherry bodega in Spain and the distillery is always involved whenever casks are picked to ensure a consistent high quality sherry casks... 

Finally, add to that the advantage of being a family owned distillery and being able to do what you want at all levels! Oh, and let's not forget the very passionate people working at Glenfarclas - both in production and Visitor's Center! :-)

Now, on to the review:

The Glenfarclas stillroom, May 5th 2014 © The Malt Desk

Glenfarclas 15yo 58,6% (103 proof), Distillery bottling for The Whisky Exchange

Colour is gold

Nose:
Quite approachable... creamy, even if its 58,6%...
Notes of alcohol marinated fruit - peeled plums, peaches and some apple with a sprinkle of cinnamon, some nuttiness, vanilla custard, nutmeg and clove and some damp earthy notes

Taste:
A lighter style of 15yo Glenfarclas, this one...
Spicy orange and plums, quite a load of malt, hints of sweet licorice, mid- to end palate spicy citrus fruit confit gets more prominent and the whole thing is carried there in perfect measures by the never overpowering alcohol. Finishes on cooked and apple and a little nuttiness

The standard version bottled at 46% is one of the best standard bottlings out there and still available decent price for a 15yo whisky these days.

But this is not your average 15yo Glenfarclas, for sure... as mentioned above it carries a slightly lighter style which really allows this whisky to shine. You can add a little water to reduce the alcohol if you like, without harming it...

A great pick by the folks at The Whisky Exchange!

Thanks to MBO for cracking this one open at a recent private tasting!

90/100!

Still available @ The Whisky Exchange for £79.95

GLENFARCLAS 1970 1.134 'INDESCRIBABLE BLISS' - THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY

Glenfarclas Distillery requires no further introduction to most people.

The distillery is what I'd classify as a Speyside landmark and a distillery you just have to get yourself acquainted with - otherwise your whisky journey will incomplete. When visiting the distillery and looking around their warehouses, you'll still find casks from yesteryear and some of those casks gets bottles as the distiller's highly accalaimed 'Family Cask'-series.

You also don't see many independent bottling from Glenfarclas, so when I come across some I usually make an effort to get to try them. This one, I tried at recently a deluxe SMWS tasting in the local club. Quite some goodies were had that evening, so expect more review from that tasting over the course of the next month or 2...

Casks, casks, casks... @Glenfarclas Distillery, May 4th 2013 © The Malt Desk

Glenfarclas 1970 1.134 (xx.01.1970/xx.12.2006) 36yo 'Indescribable bliss' 53%, ex-sherry cask, 233 bottles, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Colour is dark amber

Nose:
Very closed at first, but this one has been trapped in a bottle for almost 10 years - it needs to breathe... Oh, wow... this is really old school sherry. Dusty bookshelves, bags of mushrooms and nutmeg. It has a sweet yet still spicy Oloroso style of sherry that you only find in casks from that era. Its like the wine is still fermenting here, vague yeasty notes and a nutty liqueur and dark chocolates. There's an underlying herbal notes in here as well along with hint of raspberries.

Taste:
Dark berries, some vague elderberry and blackcurrant, more nuts and chocolates, mulled wine and lots of malt. Some overripe oranges comes through mid palate along with a streak of bitter oak throwing it a bit off balance. The finish is bitter/spicy (peppery) with some cloves as well. Be careful if you want to add water to this one... it literally only takes a few drops and when it does, it puts the oak and wine in the background and brings out its heavy malty side.

This is truly a malt of yesteryear, lots of notes only associated with old whisky in here and its a privilege to try this, even if it has a slight flaw. This bottle will certainly appeal to the romantic in you...

90/100!

GLENFARCLAS 1988 25YO - CADENHEAD AUTHENTHIC COLLECTION

Douglas Laing calls this distillery for 'Probably Speyside's Finest', Blackadder calls it Blairfindy and supposedly Gordon & MacPhail calls it Glen Avon and I'm am of course talking about Glenfarclas Distillery...

Glenfarclas is best know for producing lovely sherry casked whisky, but sometimes a bourbon cask leaves the place, either for blending purposes and some of them also ends up with the indie bottlers, like the one in this review.

Being from one of my favourite bottlers, Cadenheads, I certainly looked forward to trying this one - lets' try it...

Glenfarclas Distillery Visitors Centre, May 5th 2014 © The Malt Desk

Glenfarclas 1988 25yo (b. 10.2013) 53,7%, ex-bourbon hogshead, 222 bottles, Cadenhead

Colour is bright yellow

Nose:

Honey, ginger, vanilla, grassy, slightly malty and yeasty notes and a hint of oak. The whole thing seems a bit restrained, but time and 2 drops of water brings out fresh baked bread, much more grass and a lemony note

Taste:

Crisp malt, citrus (lemon zest, mainly) kiwi and oak spices, white pepper, shortbread, oat meal, dried raspberry müesli and a little custard

A very nice dram, indeed though maybe not that complex and demanding as others... but who says everything has to be? this is quite enjoyable as it is... 

85/100!

GLENFARCLAS 1965 1.183 'A VIBRANT ENIGMA' - THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY

Once upon a time there was a bottling of Glenfarclas that wanted to be an American Bourbon...

That could certainly be the case with this particular bottling released by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) has since it started, been one of the few independent bottlers regularly releasing casks of Glenfarclas, many of them ex-bourbon casks, which is not a part of the Glenfarclas Distillery normal sherry profile. This, however, could easily be mistaken for just that, at least judging by the colour of it the whisky. 

Glenfarclas is one of those whiskies that is held very much in high esteem with both whisky professionals and drinkers and IMO one of those Speyside whiskies that can stand the test of time (read: long term maturation), along with Glen Grant but just looking at it, I wonder if this one will fall through... ?

Glenfarclas Distillery, May 2nd 2014 © The Malt Desk

Glenfarclas 1965 1.183 (07.07.1965) 48yo ' A vibrant Enigma' 48%, Refill ex-bourbon hogshead, 127 bottles, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Colour is deep golden mahogany

Nose:

Like a US bourbon with a slight malty edge? sun dried tomatoes, dominant oak, spice and herbs - lots of it, pepper, cumin, myrica, hints of oregano and a floral note. Mint, herb liqueurs, handful of warm raisins.

This could be anything after a while... Cognac, Bourbon, Rum, Malt Whisky - take your pick

Certainly a great nose!

Taste:

Dry as the Kalahari :-O not any distillery no. 1.xxx left in this one... this one, as I suspected, tastes a bit more like an American bourbon than a malt. Syrup, molasses, dark rums, cinnamon, bit of mint, cloves, bit of marzipan and orange peel and white inner skin, fresh pine and wood sap, burnt caramel and bitter oak.

Sadly, I suspected this - finally a Glenfarclas over the edge, having spent just too much time in the cask - at least to my taste. It's not a bad whisk(e)y... it just spent a little too much time in the cask.  I'm thinking that if you like Bourbon you'll like this one too - its certainly closer to that in style than a 'Farclas.

Thanks to TK for the generous sample!

80/100!

Retasted on 6. november 2014... Now 82/100!

GLENFARCLAS 1993 1.172 'SOPHISTICATED, DELICATE AND FEMININE' - THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY

It's always nice to try something a bit different - like Glenfarclas from an ex-bourbon cask.
I've reviewed one previously - a 28yo expression also from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society like the one I'm about to review.

This expression caught be a bit by surprise, as I -from the very ladylike naming by the SMWS- found a much more upfront and freshness than expected... Ladies, not that you can't upfront and fresh and also sophisticated, delicate and feminine at the same time. I was just expecting something completely different :-)

A pair of still at Glenfarclas, March 23 2009 © The Malt Desk

Glenfarclas 1993 1.172 19yo (23.09.1993) 'Sophisticated, Delicate and Feminine' 55,7%, 230 bottles, refill ex-bourbon hogshead, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Colour is pale straw

Nose:
Fresh vanilla, hint of something floral, cucumber, citrus and raspberry, hint of yeast/fresh dough notes, draff, much like a cooked note - it all works rather well, IMO

Taste:
Fantastic mouth arrival. Sweet vanilla and danish pastry. Grass and lemony. It never gets overly sweet and continues to make you mouth water. It stays fresh and zesty throwing in a hint of orange marmalade and a little ginger. The finish gets a little more spicy, but it never leaves its malt pedigree behind.

What a great expression! IMO, there's not much femininity surrounding this one ;-)

89/100!

GLENFARCLAS 1984 1.169 'A SECRETIVE SORCERER'S BLACK MAGIC' - THE SCOTCH MALT WHISKY SOCIETY

The weather was cold and wet when we visited Speyside in March 2009... and we even got caught out in a snowstorm at Glenshee and had to turn the car around on the narrow road half way up the hill while sliding sideways down... scary!! Just imagine that a couple of days before, we were on the Isle of Skye only wearing a shirts outside! Ain't Scotland lovely?! :-)

Sorry, got sidetracked there ;-)

First of all, there's not many independent bottlings of Glenfarclas out there, 2nd of all there's probably even less matured in ex-bourbon casks. Now, I've spotted a some at the distillery, but officially Glenfarclas matures all their whisky ex-sherry casks, which is why it makes it extra special to try one from a bourbon cask.

This one is bottled by The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, which recently (2013) has put out at least 3 bottlings this year - and all of them distilled on the same day - the 16th of May 1984! I do have the 2 bottlings in stock also and should really be doing a HTHTH with the others, but... well, you know ... ;-)

So for now I'll just review one of them for you...

Glenfarclas warehouses, 23rd March 2009 © The Malt Desk

Glenfarclas 1984 1.169 28yo (16.05.1984)'A secretive Sorcerer's black magic' 54,7%, 218 bottles, refill ex-bourbon hogshead, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society

Colour is pale gold

Nose:
Honey, flowery/garden note, some oak, sawdust, flour/fresh baked bread, natural caramel, vanilla, mushrooms and fresh baked shortbread with a sprinkle of white sugar

Taste:
Sweet marzipan, hint of nuts, candied fruits, wood sap, florist shop, bran notes, dried hops, toffee again, fresh wood shavings.
Finishes off on high quality ale and heavy malt and hints of banana. Water brings down the oak and makes the whole experience much more creamy.

Quite a bit of oak in this one, which subtracts a couple of points for me - but still a very good dram!

88/100!

THE MALT DESK TURNS 1 YEAR + GLENFARCLAS 1973 FAMILY CASK - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

Time flies... 1 years ago today, Saturday 25th May 2012 saw me starting The Malt Desk - why, you might ask, when there are so many other whisky blogs out there? and the answer is... I needed to... both on a personal level (which I won't bore you with) and because I had now been involved with whisky for so long that I just felt I needed something more substantial to put my thoughts and reviews etc. - oh, and I was also encouraged by a few people in the local whisky club to start something up... so with that, I already had the first readers... but still this is mainly for my own enjoyment.

Now, 1 year later I find myself still going at it, though some days the posts are shorter than others - but the reasons for that are many, so don't despair - that's just how it is... :-)

I also find myself get recognized at whisky event and people coming up to say hi, which is more than I expected but it's very nice - it's always good to meet other whisky fans in person.

What's next? well, honestly I don't at the moment - I'll go on as usual for the time being, but are thinking about turning down on the frequenzy of posts just a bit...

I'm very happy with the feedback I've gotten so far and with that go with the old saying 'why fix it when it's not broken' - atleast for now... Though I'm hoping maybe in the future to get another angle on things than to what I'm doing now.

Thanks for reading!
Claus, TMD

I'll celebrate this first anniversay with a review of a stonker of a malt tasted at the Spirit of Speyside Festival earlier this May. Saturday May 4th we ventured to Glenfarclas for their 'Anniversaries tasting' which featured a cask sample from 2003 and then Family cask expressions from 1993, 1983, 1973, 1963 and finally 1953.

Generous pours were given after the regular tasting and I managed to secure a sample of the 1973 for later tasting and reviewing as it stood out from the others on the day.

The lineup of Family Cask expressions for tasting @ Glenfarclas - May 4th 2013 © The Malt Desk

Glenfarclas 1973 38yo (19.03.1973/13.10.2011) Family Cask#2598 Rel. VIII, 56,5%, Distillery bottling

Colour is dark mahogany

Nose:
Glenfarclas nose as I've found in some of the old Speyside's Finest OMC bottlings as well, thick malt, spicy sherry coating, oranges, hint of apricot, baked apple peaks through the sherry, milk chocolate and prune juice, burnt sugar creme brulee style

Taste:
Relatively fresh on arrival, despite its age, clean cut old sherry style, a bit drying... Sugar coated apples and pickled in old sherry from your Granny's cupboard, Atamon even... syrupy and honey in there too....

Swims very well despite it being both old and heavily sherry, but this wonderful whisky should not take more that 3-5 drops (litteraly!) of water!

A stellar old Glenfarclas!

92/100!

GLENFARCLAS 1974 - DISTILLERY BOTTLING

Speyside favorite and independent distillery, Glenfarclas, has through the years put out some cracking bottlings - both in their standard range where I'd like to highlight their 15yo bottled at 46%...

As an independent and family owned distillery, they've always been very protective of the Glenfarclas name when it comes to its use on independent bottlings. Best example was a few years back when indie bottler Cadenhead release a couple too many bottlings with the distillery name on year and Glenfarclas through litigation had that brought down to max 2 per annum.

The only other bottler that has come close putting out a reasonable amount of Glenfarclas is The Scotch Malt Whisky Society and - as you would know if you've been following my reviews in 2013 - they don't put the Glenfarclas name on the bottle - just a 1.xxx as Glenfarclas was the first cask the SMWS ever had bottled.

Glenfarclas puts great pride in being a part of the Spirit of Speyside Festival each year too.
They open their door with extra tours and special events like the picking of the next family cask bottling and tastings of the same range. You can read a report from picking of the 1997 Family Cask during the 2012 Spring Festival here.

Located at the foot of Benrinnes hill, the distillery fairly open grounds offers a great views of the place and being in Speyside it's one of the distilleries you just have to tour. I go there every time I'm in Speyside... :-)

Glenfarclas Stillhouse - March 2009 © The Malt Desk

As I mentioned in the previous post, the stuff of the 70's are legendary from most distilleries and Glenfarclas which also have stuff dating back from the 50's (Check their Family Cask range) is no exception - lovely, just absolutely lovely old sherry casks from that era... and still today Glenfarclas manages to source some pretty good casks, IMO - let's all hope they can keep that up!

A good friend of mine generously provided a nice size sample for me to review - Thank you!

Glenfarclas 1974 30yo (11.07.1974/26.10.2004) 53,3%, sherry cask#6042, 288 bottles for Austria, Distillery bottling

Colour is mahogany

Nose:
Oozes of old style sherry, very winey, lovely hardwood notes and after a short while gives off almost the scent of a high quality tawny port with underlying barley sugars and danish xmas spice cake. Also a clear apple note in there as well, shoe polish, rum filled chocolates and even a hint of smoke.

Taste:
Pretty lively for a 30yo whisky with an arrival that would have fit a dram half its age. Lovely cinnamon buns, chocolate covered orange slices, hints of mint, nutmeg and mulled wine. Sticks to the back roof of your mouth and cheeks forever with nutty oloroso and malt notes.

I'm guessing this is what chewing Caledonia pipe tobacco mix (DK special blend) will taste like.

An absolutely cracking expression - Thanks again for the sample!

91/100!

THE WHISKY AGENCY - SPEYSIDE SINGLE MALT 1995

German cult bottler 'The Whisky Agency' is one of the highest rated smaller indie bottlers around. They're know for their sometimes very pretty label featuring everything from sharks to insects and their pretty consistant high quality of their bottlings.

This time, though, I'll be trying an undisclosed malt from them. The distillery name from which this malt comes from, ends on 'clas' - won't take up much of your malt mind capacity to find its origins from that, will it? ;-)

Speyside Single Malt 1995/2012 17yo 46%, refill sherry, 409 bottles, The Whisky Agency in joint bottling with Bresser & Timmer, NL

White wine in colour

Nose:
Oils, green apples, heavy citrus and flowery notes and sweet white wine


Taste:
Loads of fruit, freshly cut melon, some spices - then turning heavier into a more boiled fruit style. Finish is drying like a fino sherry and the comes out on top with a bit cereal and malt on the end.

86/100! ... incredible nose on this one!

SPEYSIDE'S FINEST 1967 (GLENFARCLAS) - DOUGLAS LAING - OLD MALT CASK - PART VI

Yet another of these usually very great but undisclosed (but still common knowledge) Glenfarclas' from Douglas Laing.

The last couple of years have seen the Speyside's Finest-bottlings move from the Old Malt Cask-series, along side Ardbeg and Port Ellen, into this bottlers premium series - the Old & Rare Platinum... sadly with a large price increase too.

Anyway, these old GF's are as I mentioned usually top notch whisky. That said I had one earlier this year in the Old & Rare Platinum series that IMO never should have been bottled. You can find info on it in the archives on the left hand side of the page.

Hopefully this one wont let us down:

Speyside's Finest 1967 41yo 50% xx.11.1967/xx.05.2009 sherrybutt#DL5159, 305 bottles, Douglas Laing - Old Malt Cask

Deep gold in colour

Nose:
Didnt expect a heavily sherried nose, like som some other SF-bottlings, due to the lighter colour of this one. It gives more of a dusting of sherry notes, like a hint of berries, some ginger and nutmeg and very gently measure of oak.

Taste:
Very nice drinking strength these 50% - again not the heaviest of arrivals, but everything comes in just the right amounts. I'm thinking malt liquorice tea, hint of cherry wine? ginger spice(d) (yes, pun intended) and finally a litte chocolate and minty oak.

Very nice dram!

90/100!

SPEYSIDE REGION NO. 3 1967 - DUNCAN TAYLOR

This is an undisclosed Glenfarclas bottled by Huntly bottler, Duncan Taylor, which generally puts out some good stuff, though I'm guess stocks are getting low by now.

Lets try and dissect this one:

Speyside Region No. 3 1967 37yo 40,7%, cask#5810, 334 bottles by Duncan Taylor

Nose:
First nosing after a generous pour hits your nose with heavy toffee, then settles strawberries, aniseed, gentle honey, a little leather, hints of apples and marzipan and oak as in fresh wood shavings. Very nice!

Taste:
Dry then sweet, then dry again, bitter almonds, burnt sugar, leather, spices, dried fruits - figs and raisins. Then hints of red berries again (but not strawberries this time) and oak then hits on the finale.

A very delicious dessert style dram that would have hit the 90-mark had it not been for the oak influence on the finish.

89/100!

SPIRIT OF SPEYSIDE FESTIVAL 2012 - CHOOSING THE GLENFARCLAS FAMILY CASK 1997

Monday 7th of May saw us visiting Glenfarclas for the ever popular event of picking the next cask for their family cask series. This year, a 1997 vintage was up for picks. A large event - around 40 people - saw us spilt into 2 groups before heading on a tour around the distillery of the 'Valley of the green grass'.
As opposed to certain other distilleries, there are no fumes at Glenfarclas (not true, of course), so pictures were allowed to be taken so I'll just add a couple below ;-) (A big hint at the not so independent distilleries).

Running at full capacity now, Glenfarclas produces 3.000.000+ liters of spirit annualy now and are -as others- always looking to up their production as demand, especially from the Far East is continuing to rise. Latest news on the Glenfarclas site speaks of warehouse expansion plans for 3-4 new rows of warehouses and a new waste water purification reservoir on site...

But lets have a few pictures and then head on to what this event was all about...

The Glenfarclas washbacks were being cleaned with high pressure hoses during our tour (out of sight) - May 2012 © The Malt Desk

Pair of stills - Glenfarclas still directly fires their stills as one of the few remaining distilleries in Scotland - May 2012 © The Malt Desk

Warehouse No. 1 - Oh, what treasures inside... - May 2012 © The Malt Desk

Beautiful old casks maturing in Warehouse No. 1 - May 2012 © The Malt Desk

Now, we had better not loose focus on what we actually came to Glenfarclas for...

We were given 6 samples from casks previously chosen by Manager George Grant himself.

They were:

• Sherry butt#484 from 10.02.1997
• Sherry butt#2239 from 26.03.1997
• Sherry hogshead#4003 from 05.05.1997
• Plain butt#5374 from 05.06.1997
• Refill hogshead#5979 from 23.06.1997
• Sherry butt#4565 (4th fill) from 19.05.1997

No abv% was disclosed on any of the casks samples

The order here corresponds to the samples poured in the glasses below...

The bottles containing samples from the 6 casks - May 2012 © The Malt Desk

The samples poured - left to right as mentioned above... - May 2012 © The Malt Desk

Here is my notes on the whiskies (left to right):

First, I started off with a quick nosing of all of them and already then picked 2-3 favorites - lets see if they followed through on the palate.

Sherry butt#484:

Burnt sugar, caramel, spicy, nuts? palate unfortunately has hints of sulphur but also gives of a full malty front and a very vinous finish. Decent, but not a favorite.

Sherry butt#2239:

Again caramel, but more a heavy fudge style and some honey and dried fruits. This has a significant tannic hit, IMO and puts me off to a side track. Some rubber? Also very decent and better than #484 in my book.

Sherry hogshead#4003:

A buttery and creamy nose, dry and fruity, with oak, nuts, light coat of sherry, coffee, dessert cabinet? vanillas? Now we're moving into my territory

Plain butt#5374:

Extremely delicate nose, a little flowery, vanilla, honey, candied white fruits in a light layer of oak, gentle malt and some citrus and hint of shortbead - love this one! a contender for sure!

Refill hogshead#5979:

If this was a refill hoggie, I would have liked to have seen the impact this cask had when it was a 1st fill !! Anyway, a quick nosing indentified this one as my favorite to begin with - atleast on the nose. Dried fruits, spices, chocolate, coffee allsorts like in a starbucks, heavy and ultra clean oloroso sherry. Nutty, amaretto dessert and well balanced oak in a loooong aftertaste. It followed through beautifully on the palate. This is certainly my favorite so far!

Sherry butt#4565 (4th fill):

My first impression was that this is one weird cask, its got some of the same qualities as #5374 in some way, but twisted 180° in the opposite direction - wont bother with notes here as this was clealy my off cask for the day - no harmony in my book, sadly :-(

The scores were then collected from all the participants and George Grant were off to count the votes... the talk started flying across the room about favorites and it seemed many agree on the same one - and a few were complete in disagreement as always :-)

10mins later George returned with the result and it was a clear win for.... :

George Grant announcing the winner... - May 2012 © The Malt Desk

Refill hogshead#5979 to be bottled later in 2012 as the Glenfarclas Family Cask Vintage 1997

...also my personal favorite of the lot... :-)

I actually had the plain butt#5374 as 2nd and quite liked the more laid back and bourbon cask style of this one. Its ranking was never revealed, though.

The event ended with all participants getting a voucher for £19.97 off the Vintage 1997 when its ready... :-)

Thanks to George Grant and all others at Glenfarclas for a great event!

UNDISCLOSED MALTS

Speyside's Finest (Glenfarclas) 1966 43yo, xx.06.1966/xx.10.2009, 48,2% sherry butt#5525, 197 bottles by Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask for The Whisky Show, London

Nose:
Oloroso, Amaretto, Coffee, slightly burnt suger notes

Taste:
Clean cut sherry delivery with chocolate raisins and X-mas Cake, cloves?
Goes on and on and on, 3 drops of water takes away the few bitter oak notes that was found -
A stunner!

91/100! (tasted 16-11-2010)

UNDISCLOSED MALTS

Glen Avon (Glenfarclas) 1958/2007 49yo Gordon & MacPhail 40%
Nose:
Some furniture polish/vinegar on the nose before the sherry emerges, Heavy tea notes like bag left in too long, extremely vinous

Taste:
Dry sherry, but lighter style than the nose suggests, slightly bitter and drying, then gets very dry´with some cocoa/amaretto style to the finish - almost rum-like at times.

A great one for an vanilla ice cream dessert!

89/100! (tasted 05-11-2011)

UNDISCLOSED MALTS

Speyside’s Finest (Glenfarclas) 1965/xx.03.2011, 45yo, 54,2%, Douglas Laing Old & Rare, 182 bottles

Nose:
Struck matches

Taste:
Eggy sulphury in style, water helps a little bit but no!... dissapointment of the day

70/100! (tasted 23-02-2012)