I’m surprised at how long it took us Whiskeyteers to get to the Glenfarclas 105, considering that we’re all 3 fans of sherried whiskies and we all have a soft spot for the family-owned Glenfarclas (especially their 15 year old, which is really, really hard to get in the States). Did I mention we all loved every single barrel sherried Speyside/ Highland we’ve tried from the SMWS?
I guess the availability of the 105 takes out the impetus to grab one and get it done. We still haven’t grabbed a bottle; this dram was purchased by my brother who’s working from home from Aruba during this Covid pandemic. He said the beach gets old after a couple of weeks, the kids get used to the novelty and it’s business as usual with the downside of severely limited and overpriced whisky selection – I don’t buy it.
This Glenfarclas 105 is a cask strength whisky bottled at 60%. It should be a fair comparison to the SMWS single cask releases mentioned above, whenever we get to that. Which reminds me… I should get Mike to draft a post on cask strength vs. single casks, scotch, bourbon, blends, single malts, bottled-in-bond, scotch regions, glencairns, independent bottlers, e150, chill filtration, ABV and proof, Oloroso, PX and all things 101 and beyond. He’d love it I’m sure.
Glenfarclas 105:
Bottled at 60% and I’m sure left unchill filtered and at natural color. No age statement, but it’s suggested the whisky is 8-10 years old and aged in sherry and bourbon casks.
Appearance: auburn, like polished mahogany.
Nose: A pot of dark pine honey exploded in the spice cupboard, which was build recently out of quality hardwood. There was also a bag of ripe oranges in there, for some reason. And vanilla. With water, the nose goes caramel supernova. Cheremoyas.
Palate: The high ABV juice builds up to molasses and toffee, accompanied by orange rinds and a touch of zaatar. The wood, fruit and sherry are inseparable. A touch of salt makes an appearance on the long and drying finish. With water, we go deeper into sherry territory, dried fruits and some pepper on the finish.
Score: 7/10