A wonderfully sherried 15 year old dram from Glenfarclas, boasting oodles of dried fruit notes. It’s bottled at 46% ABV simply because this was the strength that George Grant’s grandfather preferred it at. Happily, this also results in the Speysider boasting a big, juicy, Christmas cake profile. A fabulously complex Scotch while also being easily drinkable.
Intense, powerful sherry. Cream sherry, certainly – Pedro Ximenez? almost… a touch of peppermint? An almost rancio quality to this. Smells older than 15.
Raisins, more sherry, orange peel, walnuts, dates.
Incredibly long, complex, more of the walnuts again.
Water draws out sweetness. This is Christmas cake, not whisky. Simply astonishing.
Have not tasted as of yet
Bottle to bottle variation is bringing alternating joy and grief --- too inconsistent
This has been both one of the most impressive and most disappointing wiskies that I've tried. I'm a big fan of the sherried speysiders and was naturally drawn to glenfarclas 15 through the great reviews online. The first bottle that I bought through master of malt was absolutely superb and I raved about it to all of my whisky fan friends; so much so that I was bought a bottle by a friend for being master of ceremonies at his wedding. When I tasted the bottle that I was gifted I couldn't have been more disappointed. It was nothing like the original bottle I bought; non of the beautiful, sweet, rich flavour was present, just a slightly musty boring whisky. If you get a good bottle of this you'll be blown away.......if not, be prepared for disappointment.
Budget: £35-£50 - yes Like Speyside Whiskey - Yes Read on - Yes I am not a whiskey conniseuer, but I do buy a lot of £35- £55 bottles of Speyside single malt & so of that particular market I think I'm well positioned to offer some advice. I'm essentially putting this dram up against similar offerings from Balvenie & Aberlour. At this price point that's some stiff competition, but this always wins the gold medal for me. Give it a try.
I don't know what people find so interesting to this one... No clue if I had a bad batch, but I tried many times to give it a chance to redeem itself without succeeding. The nose get more appealing with oxidation, but that palate is just bad.... I guess that if you like weak, sharp and bone dry sherry, give it a try !
