Three of my favourite Glenfarclas bottlings

01/03/2024

"My favourite distilleries include: ✅Ardnamurchan, GlenDronach, Glenfarclas, Macallan, Highland Park, Tullibardine, Kavalan✅." Yeah, you can read on the "About me" page that this distillery is included in my favourites. There are several reasons why. It's a family owned business, they have a huge core range to comfort every type of whisky drinker from novice to seasoned and their design is just awesome in my opinion. Let me tell you a bit about Glenfarclas in general and how they operate, then I'll share my thoughts and tasting notes on three bottles: Glenfarclas 17 year old, Glenfarclas 18 year old and the extremely popular Glenfarclas 105.

About the distillery

Glenfarclas distillery is a Speyside whisky distillery in Ballindalloch, Scotland. Glenfarclas translates as meaning valley of the green grass. The distillery is owned and run by the Grant family. It has six stills which are the largest on Speyside and are heated directly by gas burners.

Glenfarclas traditionally matures in Sherry casks. This core theme wasn't changed even though Sherry casks have become more and more expensive. The range of Single Malts is wide and lasts from 10 year old Whiskies to a 40 year old release as I've said from novice to seasoned. 

The distillery has a production capacity of around 4 million litres of spirit per year. Normally four stills are used for production with two kept in reserve.

The core range consists of the NAS Glenfarclas heritage, the 8-10-12-15-17-21-25-30-40 and 50 year old bottlings as well as a cask strength bottle that is called the 105 and is bottled at 60% alcohol by volume. Lots of age statements. It's nice to see.

In 2007 Glenfarclas launched The Family Casks, a collection of single cask bottlings, with one from every yearfrom 1952. This collection now extends to the early 2010s but the distillery no longer has stock of casks from 1952 and 1953. 

The distillery has approximately 68,000 casks maturing on site, in traditional dunnage warehouses, with stock from every year from 1953 to the current year. Glenfarclas produce a traditional Highland malt with a heavy sherry influence.

Dunnage warehouse at the distillery
Dunnage warehouse at the distillery

Dunnage warehouses are the traditional warehouse, low in height with thick walls and an earthen floor. Inside, casks are stacked on their sides, no more than three barrels high in stows (rows) which helps to ensure good air circulation and an even maturation throughout. The earthen floor means a dunnage warehouse is naturally humid with minimal seasonal weather variance in Scotland, the climate inside the warehouse remains constant over daily and yearly cycles. This high humidity and constant temperature results in all casks across the warehouse maturing at a consistent rate, being influenced by the humid conditions created by the surrounding soil. 

There are three wash stills and three spirit stills at Glenfarclas. First distillation in the wash still leads to 23% ABV. Second distillation will approximately deliver 4.000 liters with 68% ABV.

The pot stills of Glenfarclas are directly fired with gas, which is a very traditionally method. Rummagers, which are revolving chains, are there to make sure that there's no residue burning in at the bottom of the stills.

The mashtun of Glenfarclas is one of the biggest in the Scottish Whisky industry with a diameter of 10 meters and can pick up about 16.5 tons. The whole progress of mashing takes about 11 to 12 hours - this includes cleaning as well.

When the wort is cooled down it is pumped into the 12 washbacks of Glenfarclas that have a capacity of 45.000 liters each and are made of stainless steel. The cultured distillers' yeast is added in a ratio of 1% and ferments for about 50 hours. When fermentation ends the resulting wash has an alcohol content of about 8 % ABV. 

Glenfarclas 60 year old
Glenfarclas 60 year old

Circling back to where I said that they don't have stock anymore from the 1952-53 casks as of 2024. In 2015, Glenfarclas released a limited edition line of their 60 year old bottle. They confirmed that there were only 360 bottles released globally. Crafted in a first fill sherry butt, the vibrant and full-bodied flavour produced from this 60 year old dram is from one of their last 1953 casks.

Glenfarclas 17 year old - Natural Color, Non-chill filtered, 43%

This was the bottle that started off my journey. Usually this bottle can be found on the US market, but somehow I found one here in Hungary and I bought it a few years ago. It blew me away. Eversince I've been loving Glenfarclas.

"This Glenfarclas matures for a 17 years in Oloroso sherry casks to become an extremely complex Single Malt. The flavours of the taste are so closely interwoven that it is initially impossible to separate them."

Nose: Very sweet and complex sherry notes. A hint of vanilla with freshly picked green apples from the orchard. Grapes from the nearby vineyard and herbs from the mountain that is towering right next to our beautiful orchard. Some butterscotch and milk chocolate can be smelled from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory just down the road. Magic.

Taste: The first thing you taste is the smoothness. It is quite rounded and velvety. Has a nice oily texture. Hits you with a big amount of dark fruits from the sherry such as figs and raisins. Butterscotch and chocolate creating a very nice sweetness. I could say raisins dipped into chocolate. Honey pickled green apples. Wonderfully complex, sweet and not a hint of "unpleasentness".

Finish: Very long and lasting which is great. Christmas spices, sweet fruit and fig jam with a gentle hint of oak.

Overall this is a very good whisky, and I hope that they will at some point make this available to the EU market aswell. I would pick a few up and crack one wide open instantly. If you can find it in a bar or store, give it a try, you won't be able to not like it. 93 / 100

Glenfarclas 17 year old
Glenfarclas 17 year old

Glenfarclas 18 year old - Natural Color, Non-chill filtered, 43%

Let's continue our journey with the bottle that is just 1 year older than the previous one. This is actually a Duty Free exclusive and if I am correct it was discontinued. It's also 1 LITER hip hip hoooooray. I actually sadly just bought an opened bottle from a fellow whisky enjoyer so I couldn't enjoy the full liter. I loved every drop of it and I was sad to see it go.

"This Glenfarclas matures for a 18 years in Oloroso sherry casks to become an extremely complex, smooth and velvety Single Malt. The flavours of the taste are so rich and complex that it is impossible to not love it."

Nose: So much fruit and character. Not the typical refill sherry notes. This has more active first-fill casks I'd bet. A very strong malty note. Then red berries. Vanilla followed by dark figs, plums and sultanas. Caramelized orange with Christmas spices. Wonderful, flawless.

Taste: Velvety and soft. Oily enough. Well balanced and round. First note is oakiness followed by a small pepper rush. Then you get plums, dark peaches and sultanas. Orange with cinnamon and allspice. It's very very good. But for me it falls a bit short compared to the nose.

Finish: Long and sweet. Quite enjoyable. Oak notes with Christmas spices and orange.

Overall this is my favorite age-stated Glenfarclas and I have tried all of them up until the 25 year old and this wins. It's quite disappointing that it is not part of the core range and that it is impossible to get for me. 94 / 100

The whole 1 LITER beauty of the Glenfarclas 18 year old
The whole 1 LITER beauty of the Glenfarclas 18 year old

Glenfarclas 105 NAS - Natural Color, Non-chill filtered, 60%

This whisky is one of the best 60% whiskies I've ever had. It doesn't burn, it tastes good and it is widely available and the quality has been always on the same level in the bottles i have purchased.

In 1968 George S. Grant, the grandfather of the current chairman, bottled a cask at 105 degrees British Proof for Christmas and thus gave birth to the product. The current edition is bottled at 60% abv. and is non age stated. It used to be 10 year old a few years ago, but demand was so high that they had to drop the age statement to keep up with it. There is also a new 16 year old bottling, a 20-22 and 40 year old bottling. It's just mind blowing to think that the whisky is still 60% after 40 years of maturation.

I actually just purchased a bottle of 105 NAS the day before the release of this post at the amazing price of 49 euro for 1 full LITER. Couldn't be happier..

Nose: Caramel, butterscotch and green apple along some fresh pears. Christmas spices such as cinnamon and cloves. Honey and orange peel . A bit of vanilla.

Taste: Quite strong. Very oily given the high abv and very complex. Sweet fruits, caramel, apple, honey, and oak in the background. The texture can be a bit rough for novice drinkers. Add a bit of water and see how it develops. For me a few drops of water, taking it down to roughly 50%, releases a whole array of tropical fruits such as pineapple and mango. Green apples, pear compote and vanilla sauce. Awesome dram.

Finish: The finish is long and warm with lots of honey, oak and vanilla. Sweet fruits all along. 

Overall, this is quite a revelation in the world of cask strength whiskies. Although the whisky warms the mouth, it does not burn at all whatsoever. To some it might be a bit rough but the overall experience on this one is pleasant. And don't forget, water is your friend. 88 / 100

The 700ml version of the Glenfarclas 105
The 700ml version of the Glenfarclas 105
The bottle I purchased a day ago
The bottle I purchased a day ago

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. To many more. Sláinte.