Glenfarclas 30 Year Old

Well............. its on my wishlist.

• Nose: sultana, rum and raisin, some bitter coffee and mocha aromas, and the densest Christmas cake nose I’ve experienced, some wood smoke, strong tea and a bit of cinnamon.

• Pallet: decadent on the pallet Frangelico liqueur, mocha, Christmas cake, old sherry, leather, nutty chocolate, overdone caramel, and almost a bit of mint or menthol for contrast.

• Finish: stick caramel lingers on as the pallet fades away, and a little smoke to round things off. A very classy dram.

• Mark – neat 9.2

This is a bit of a bruiser of a whisky, its a big boy there is no doubt. At the age of 30 i should probably call it a big man but there we are. Water really didn't make any difference to this whisky when i added a drop and given i only had one measure i thought why risk drowning a whisky im enjoying.

from purchased sample

Nose: Malty and rather elegant sherry. Fudge, pralines, toffee, butter, bananas, tropical fruit, and fleeting red berries. Smells fat and of rich sherry caramel. Lemony and buttery pie crust that had apples pineapple and cherry.

Palate: A bit straightforward here. Watery sweet on entry. Followed by woody bitterness. This ultimately leads to some coffee and chocolate covered nibs. Not bad, but a bit rough and shocking.

Finish: A little brief, which is disappointing because I do enjoy dark coffee liqueur. Nice and has a rather enjoyable nose, but the palate is more disappointing. Coffee and toffee otherwise.

I've saved the best for the last!

Odd little way to start a whisky review, but it's true.

My wife had bought me a whisky advent calender from Master of Malt that was made up of 24 different whiskies, from all over the world, different styles, all the good stuff.

I'd decided to start the calender with whiskies that I'd already had and had reviewed. They got no reviews. Hahaha because that was already done.

Then I moved to entry level whiskies that I'd had, but never reviewed.

Then entry level single malts from distilleries that I'd never tried before.

Then whiskies from distilleries that I never thought I'd ever get to see or try, such as Wasmund's Single Malt.

Moving older and older into cask strengths, older whiskies, whiskies from my favorite distilleries.

Whiskies that I COULDN'T WAIT TO TRY!

This would culminate in the 50 year Master of Malt Speyside.

There are 2 more whiskies to come, not counting this review until I reach that bad boy.

This whisky, one that had me so eager to try as it comes from one of my favorite Speyside distilleries was Glenfarclas 30 year old.

I love the Glenfarclas 10 year, I personally think it's one of the best entry level Speysides, love it to death so when I saw that I had several Glenfarclas samples in the calender I knew I had to save them for the end.

The Glenfarclas 30 year was for me, the beginning of the end.

Pouring a lovely dark amber color that made me smile and just look forward in anticipation of what was to come I just spent a solid 90 minutes nosing the glass and admiring the lovely thick legs that slid down the glass.

It smells like a Christmas pudding, it's so beautiful!

Sweet fruit of sultanas, raisins, figs, and lots of spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and vanilla. Oak makes it's presence known as is to be expected of a whisky of this age.

However that's not all!

There's wisps of smoke to the nose, hints of green apple and as the whisky opens up, candied oranges.

Lovely, just absolutely lovely.

This is the kind of nose that intrigues you and invites you to take a sip.

So I do!

The oak makes it's presence known immediately, but it's not over the top. A little bitter, but not unpleasantly so, but it's also sweet and salty. Very odd, but entertaining.

Oak, sultanas, nutty, chocolate and vanilla move back and forth with one another going from sweet, salty and bitter again and again, mainly sweet and salty, but so enjoyable.

A long sweet, soft, silky finish full of candied oranges and chocolate end this whisky.

Wow.

Just wow.

Holy Crap.

Beautiful, so very beautiful.

Makes me SO very eager and excited to know that in just a few months I'll be visiting Glenfarclas and picking up quite a few of their high end whiskies.

Family Cask 1981 here I come!

This whisky is extremely gorgeous. One of those that I feel very lucky to have got a chance to try and even better you can find it for sell in Australia!

However it's not cheap, running at around $300-$350 a bottle depending on where you purchase it. But if your looking for a special occasion bottle, one that would be awesome to share with good friends.

If you ever get a chance to try this whisky I'd strongly suggest you do so. It's beautiful and proof once again why Glenfarclas kicks butt!

Last Friday I came home from a long day of work and had just got into the store, plopped down in front of my PC to check emails, only to have my wife come into the living room with a surprise.

A package.

A package from The Grove distillery!

Holy crap!

I hadn't been expecting any packages so I eagerly rip the package open to find a sample bottle, full of beautiful liquid.

Just as I'm ogling the sample bottle my email loads and there is an email from my friend Liz of the Grove distillery letting me know that she's just shipped me a sample of the American Style Spirit, 2nd batch and please let her know what I think.

Wow! Talk about a surprise!!

So a few days go by and I finally get a chance to sit down and give the sample a crack! I come in from work, take care of my furballs and sit down to take a look at the sample before I start cooking dinner.

Ok technical stuff: Aged for a little over 6 months in new American charred oak, bottled at 40% abv, with the cask resulting in 200 500ml bottles.

I pour the sample into my glencairn and as before am surprised how much color they're able to get into the whisky in such a short amount of time!

Lovely little nose that takes some time to open up, I wound up nosing the whisky for roughly an hour or so before taking my first sip.

A sweet and spicy nose with an initial burst of cinnamon and nutmeg, coconut, sweet cherries, vanilla, toasty oak and an ever so slight hint of cocoa.

There's something else in the nose though, something that I can't put my finger on, but it keeps me coming back again and again trying to figure it out.

Oh well looks like that hidden aroma will have to wait until I own my own bottle of this.

Finally my wife arrives home and we sit down for dinner and eventually I'm able to take a drink.

Sweet with bags of vanilla, coconut, cherries and hints of cinnamon. Very easy drinking, almost dangerously so.

The finish is short and soft with lovely vanilla, sweet cocoa and cherries, however the cherries linger on and on as the faintest hint, almost a memory of the flavor, on the palate.

Even better waking up the next day, in order to write this little review, I have a quick nose of the glencairn from the night before with again enjoying the nose of sweet cocoa and vanilla that lingers on the glass.

A lovely little whisky this is, complex enough, especially on the nose, that you can sit and ponder it, but easy drinking enough that if you want to sit in front of the TV and enjoy a dram without pondering the mysteries of the world, you can do so without feeling like you're neglecting the whisky.

A very very excellent second batch from The Grove and one that now I've tasted it, I'm determined to pick up a bottle. If the price is anything like the last one it'll run at around $120 or so which is completely worthwhile for me.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go chase my wife as she's running away with the remaining portion of the sample and I want to be able to enjoy it tonight....

Glenfarclas, which is still a family company, boasts the fact that it delivers wonderful whiskies at a reasonable Price. That is the least one can say of this whisky. Matured for three decades and still only around 150 EUR. Now, let us taste!

The nose is, surprisingly enough, rather closed. My first reaction after the initial whiff is ‘the herbal mix of Maggi’! That means meaty and herbal. That is soon accompanied by dark, fruity notes such as raisins, dades and dried figs. Some caramelized oranges. A tad minty with some herbs. Pine needles! A bit waxy. Not bad, but I am not knocked off my socks either.

The attack is quite peppery (white pepper) and I get a lot of tannins (tea, woodsmoke). It is fruitier than on the nose, primarily on prunes and figs. Big sherry influence. Phew, this is a drying bloke. Midpalate, it turns rather bitter and a bit sourish à la wine vinager (although that sounds a lot worse than it really is).

The finish is long and more of the same, dying a salty death.

This is certainly a beautiful whisky, but I find the younger versions better (more fruit, less bitterness), especially the 17 Year Old. Around 150 EUR, which is a steal for a 30 year old whisky. But for that price, you can also buy two bottles of the 17 Year Old. Which is what I would do.

Plums and raisin bread, and some latex paint, on the nose. There was toffee as well and something creamy but difficult to describe. A bit like mayonnaise, the latex paint again… something sweet and creamy a little like candy but without any sharpness. The whisky was very, very smooth.