Glenfarclas 12 Year Old

The reviewed bottle has been open for 2 years, and is 95% full. Gas was used for preservation starting 11 months ago

Nose: that typically very clean Glenfarclas sherry wine flavour is the dominant flavour; after 24 months this has become mellower, ie less pointed, and also rounder, and maybe even richer. Flavours from malt and wood are certainly there, too, but they stay pretty much in the background...with every Glenfarclas I have ever tried. The intensity of the nose is rather strong. Water brought out confectioner's sugar and slightly broadened the flavours further

Taste: clean grape in the nose goes to clean grape on the palate. The nose translates well to the palate, and the biggest observation I would make is that a lot of air has made the sherry cask flavours rounder, mellower, and at least equal in richness. I prefer this with a lot of air. Water slightly muted the sherry flavours, which gave a very pleasant result

Finish: just sits there a long time and stays the same, eventually doing a gradual taper off; water added lengthened the finish and further broadened the flavours

Balance: Glenfarclas is a sherry-lover's Scotch. Among the various disilleries' sherried expressions, Glenfarclas seems to have among the highest quality control over the sherry casks which they use. There is no Sulphur here whatsoever. If you like the sherried malts, then this is your bread and butter. Now if you don't want your whisky to taste of wine, you may not be a fan of this style. I like it fine, when I am in the wine mood, but Glenfarclas is about as wine-y as it gets in the Scotch world. I liked this bottle OK when I first bought it, but ignored it because I liked the Glenfarclas 15 yo so much better. I am currently liking this 2 year old Glenfarclas 12 YO better than I liked my bottle in its first year after the bottle was opened

Find where to buy Glenfarclas whisky