Glenfarclas 105 20 Year Old

This is a special bottling of the already awesome Glenfarclas 105, matured in sherry casks for 20 years. Served up at an eye-watering 60% ABV this single malt is not to be messed with!

The nose is strong and floral with an intense rose garland aroma. Strong sugars, flowing jaggery and a sprinkle of black pepper spices make up the dominant nose. Spend a little more time and you can discern pleasantly ripe bananas too!

The delivery is nothing short of spectacular! Imagine a dark chocolate hand grenade with a side of black pepper C4 exploding in your mouth without mercy. The 60% ABV comes into it's own here carrying with it dark plums, juicy raisins and a touch of something minty all swirled in gorgeous dark rum. A delivery hard to forget.

The nutty long finish is intensely spicy with an oaky dryness rounding off a smashing high strength sherry rendezvous.

Last night I decided I needed to have a couple of drams, especially as I was sadly missing a whisky tasting that a friend, WhiskyBaz, was doing in Perth as I had to help my wife out at the family business.

I'd decided to start with Wasmund's Single Malt and from there I realized I'd been eying the Glenfarclas 105 20 year old for a while now.

Now I was more then a little nervous as my brother in law and I had tried the Glenfarclas 105 about a month ago on a whisky tasting.

It smelled of just sherry, nothing else.

It tasted of just sherry, nothing else.

We were not too pleased, to say the least.

Personally I suspect that we had a bad bottle, but I could be wrong. That whisky does require further tasting.

Anyway I cracked the sample open and poured it into the glencairn about 40 minutes after finishing the Wasmund's Single Malt.

Pouring a beautiful dark amber color which does make me smile, I am however quite hesitant after our first encounter.

/Sigh.

Deep breath.

It'll all be alright. Give it a nose.

Yes!

A beautiful, albeit typical sherry nose on this whisky.

Sherry aromas, raisins, sultanas, burnt caramel, brown sugar and lots of Christmasy spices, cinnamon, nutmeg, mmmm it smells like a Christmas cake.

Beautiful.

Much better then our first attempt!

Time for a taste though!

Big, very big whisky with again many typical sherry whisky flavors. A tiny amount of chocolate, but lots of red fruit and spices, sultanas and raisins with again lots of spice, however there is a wee bit of vanilla in there as well.

Very enjoyable.

It's both BIG and yet easy drinking at the same time.

A very long spicy finish that again reminds me of Christmas with lots of cinnamon and nutmeg, but with vanilla finishes this whisky.

Is it alright to say that this whisky made me smile?

Because it did.

In fact this whisky made me want to go out once again and retaste the Glenfarclas 105.

Sadly though I've never seen this bottle for sale in Australia and considering that it looks like the average price of it sits at around $300 AUS a bottle, BEFORE Customs and shipping I'd expect to easily pay between $350 and $400 for it.

It's a REALLY nice whisky. Don't get me wrong and if I was living in the UK, buying whisky at UK prices I'd more then happily pick it up, especially considering the fond place in my heart that I have for Glenfarclas.

However is it $400? No where near that in my opinion. I'd much rather spend 1/4 that and get a whisky that's just as good, if not as old, Aberlour Abunadh.

However if you ever get a chance to try this bad boy out, make sure that you do!

I'd been keen to try this, rather enjoying the regular 105, though not wanting to shell out the bucks for a full bottle of the 20 year old. I found some 30ml samples for sale and got two.

Nose: Toffee, caramel, and dried fruit. There's more of a perfumy floral quality here than there was on the standard 105. Not as robust as I'd have expected, but still nice. Oxidative sherry note, honey, syrup, and vanilla. (with water) a bit non-descript, honey, praline pie, more dried fruit nibs, vanilla, and subtle baking spices

Palate: very hot -- still discernible flavors of honey, bitter coffee, wood, and some red fruits. Maybe some water will open this up. (with water) rather straightforward. More honey, wood, and a limited amount of fruit and... this is a very Scotchy scotch. Yep, these notes are very helpful, aren't they?

Finish: fine and pleasing, but unexceptional. The regular 105 was more dynamic, even if this had a longer finish on coffee. I'm surprised how subdued this was at points and thought that this really might have opened up with greater complexity with water. 84 pts here