Glenfarclas 21 Year Old

Nose: Peach/caramel/nut, overall. You can sniff off through layers: Thick nuts (almond or cashew) and salty butter. Then the main theme of fresh butter and peach. Peach becomes syrupy caramel, then vanilla, which softens to green grape. Let the vapors replenish and repeat! Very smooth; and you can give a good inhale without burn.

Palate: Luscious almond-infused juice of peach and sour cherry, with caramel. (Rather like persimmon.) Becoming fresh butter and red apple with some oaky vanilla and earthy tobacco.

Finish: Woodier and drier almond, but still a soft sweetness of creamy peach vanilla. Medium length. (Oxidation improves some sophisticated tannin.)

Very good and very even. Enjoyable flavors without noticeable flaws; those flavors could, however, be stronger, also in the finish.

Within Glenfarclas, I would first compare this to the 15yo. The nose of the 15 and 21 are similar (moreso than the 25/30) and lively. Perhaps the 21 is more peach, whereas the 15 is more creamsicle. But the palate has more differences, most noticeably providing less ginger/sour punch. I would say the 21 has more dry peach-almond-caramel rather than the 15's orange-walnut-dairy. The 21 is softer and better balanced, but somehow the 15yo still calls me, perhaps with stronger flavors. My choice would depend on the occasion. Incidentally, the 21 also bears similarities to the 40yo.

Compared with malts of other distilleries, I would first say this 21yo is similar to the Aberlour 18, but perhaps adding some peach/cream that I found lacking in the Aberlour (although at the sacrifice of some perky zest). I find the 21yo marginally better. The Glenlivet 25 is also similar, but shows more zest and less dairy/nut/caramel in the palate. And the Glenlivet's finish has more raisin/nectarine rather than peach/almond. The Glenlivet probably wins out just for providing somewhat fuller flavor, but this comes at a premium.

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