Glenfarclas 40 Year Old
Magical 'farclas
0 894
nReview by @numen
- Nose~
- Taste~
- Finish~
- Balance~
- Overall94
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- Brand: Glenfarclas
- Type: Scotch
- Region: Speyside
- ABV: 46%
From a sample from a friend - 46%
I've had a handful of standard Glenfarclas expressions, and a few Family Casks. The standard expressions left me a bit underwhelmed, though the 105 was really good. It didn't have the old, dark sherry character for obvious reasons, so I passed on it because I could get a similar profile and quality elsewhere. The old Family Casks, though, were great - just prone to the usual variability that single cask expressions bring. The last one that I reviewed had one of the most gorgeous noses, but I just disagreed with the palate. With that, I got to try the standard 40 year old, which, though hardly cheap (~$400), is much more affordable than most other OB 40 year old expressions from other distilleries.
Nose: Ah, this is really lovely. Red fruit (berries) are still present, despite the age, along with the usual old 'clean' sherry notes: leather, chocolate, coffee, orange, and some nutmeg. Very elegant. Almost a shame to drink it.
Palate: Dark oranges. A bit of leather, and a perfect amount of wood. Fine coffee drops in a chocolate liqueur. Lip-smackingly good. Maybe some nuts and other earthy notes.
Finish: More on coffee, dry-dark chocolate, orange, and great wood. Really loving this. A-/A.
I got a bottle immediately after tasting it. The only knock that I can think of it is that it's too drinkable, the palate doesn't have the strength that one might want. It's no retiring wall-flower, but it's clearly brought down to 46% and could stand to be a bit higher. All the same, I was dreaming about having more of this for the next week. It's exactly what I imagined the elegant, old, heavily sherried Glenfarclas was supposed to be like.
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Nice review. I could not agree more when you say "its almost a shame to drink it", as I felt the exact same way when I had my first dram of this recently. Could have nosed it all night!