Glenfarclas 30 Year Old

Last Friday I came home from a long day of work and had just got into the store, plopped down in front of my PC to check emails, only to have my wife come into the living room with a surprise.

A package.

A package from The Grove distillery!

Holy crap!

I hadn't been expecting any packages so I eagerly rip the package open to find a sample bottle, full of beautiful liquid.

Just as I'm ogling the sample bottle my email loads and there is an email from my friend Liz of the Grove distillery letting me know that she's just shipped me a sample of the American Style Spirit, 2nd batch and please let her know what I think.

Wow! Talk about a surprise!!

So a few days go by and I finally get a chance to sit down and give the sample a crack! I come in from work, take care of my furballs and sit down to take a look at the sample before I start cooking dinner.

Ok technical stuff: Aged for a little over 6 months in new American charred oak, bottled at 40% abv, with the cask resulting in 200 500ml bottles.

I pour the sample into my glencairn and as before am surprised how much color they're able to get into the whisky in such a short amount of time!

Lovely little nose that takes some time to open up, I wound up nosing the whisky for roughly an hour or so before taking my first sip.

A sweet and spicy nose with an initial burst of cinnamon and nutmeg, coconut, sweet cherries, vanilla, toasty oak and an ever so slight hint of cocoa.

There's something else in the nose though, something that I can't put my finger on, but it keeps me coming back again and again trying to figure it out.

Oh well looks like that hidden aroma will have to wait until I own my own bottle of this.

Finally my wife arrives home and we sit down for dinner and eventually I'm able to take a drink.

Sweet with bags of vanilla, coconut, cherries and hints of cinnamon. Very easy drinking, almost dangerously so.

The finish is short and soft with lovely vanilla, sweet cocoa and cherries, however the cherries linger on and on as the faintest hint, almost a memory of the flavor, on the palate.

Even better waking up the next day, in order to write this little review, I have a quick nose of the glencairn from the night before with again enjoying the nose of sweet cocoa and vanilla that lingers on the glass.

A lovely little whisky this is, complex enough, especially on the nose, that you can sit and ponder it, but easy drinking enough that if you want to sit in front of the TV and enjoy a dram without pondering the mysteries of the world, you can do so without feeling like you're neglecting the whisky.

A very very excellent second batch from The Grove and one that now I've tasted it, I'm determined to pick up a bottle. If the price is anything like the last one it'll run at around $120 or so which is completely worthwhile for me.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go chase my wife as she's running away with the remaining portion of the sample and I want to be able to enjoy it tonight....