Malt Mission 2007 #144

Glenfarclas 15 yo
Speyside Single Malt Whisky
46% abv
£33
£80(USD)

Sorry for delay in posting again today. It is pissing rain, my internet has been down, and I have a PhD deadline that makes a dram in the morning make less sense than usual... not that I would miss it for the world. So I took some notes this morning and brought them with me to the British Library where I am writing this post. It is as close as I've come to having a whisky in the the library, something I mentioned back at Malt Mission 55.

Glenfarclas has some notable distillery features that I think I have mentioned before but whatever. All my books are at home... although I am sure they have a few here... NO. No more time-wasting, Simmons!

The mash tun is the largest in the industry and the stills are the biggest in Speyside, direct-fired by gas. They are proudly independent company and have gone to great lengths in the past to keep their whisky, but mainly their name, off the independent bottling companies' product lists. And if you ever see an independent bottling of this stuff, please do two things:
1) buy one (or two?)
and
2) Don't tell anyone with the surname 'Grant'.

It is worth noting that between the Gelnfarclas 10, the 12, and the 15, we have gone up in abv in 3% increments.

All Glenfarclas enjoyed on the mission can be found HERE.

TASTING NOTES:

Fistfuls of juicy sherry, yeasty malt, and some smoke. Hehe... it's not just the box that looks like it belongs (as wallpaper) in gentleman's club, this stuff SMELLS like a gentleman's club: cologne, tobacco, newpapers, polished wood tables, leather... Hearty and burly.

Lively and assertive in the mouth, wonderfully integrated flavours. Perfumy sherry, gets buttery with spice, oak and malt. A slightly green element (celery? balsam resin? fennel?) in the middle. Some amaretto in the long, oaky finish.

SUMMARY:

Full-on and ballsy. A malt that calls attention to a conundrum of sorts that I have encountered on occasion: is it simple or complex? Now I am not using either term as evaluative or judicial, just as descriptors. The flavours are so primal or primary, painted on in confident brushstrokes, that it could be considered simple. At the same time, to perhaps a more sophisticated nose and palate than mine, the subtlety beneath the applications of these brushstrokes or colours on the canvas of my mouth could reveal great complexity. I dunno. Doesn't really matter much. This is award-winning, critically-acclaimed whisky that, and here is something I do feel qualified to evaluate, is a great bang-for-buck malt.

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Malt Mission #145

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