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Glenfarclas 30 Year Old

Average score from 7 reviews and 17 ratings 90

Glenfarclas 30 Year Old

Product details

  • Brand: Glenfarclas
  • Bottler: Distillery Bottling
  • ABV: 43.0%
  • Age: 30 year old

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@vanPelt
Glenfarclas 30 Year Old

Nose: Purple grape: flesh, skins, seeds and all. There is a sophisticated misty bitterness of almond and black caffeine (cocoa), and you may also find toffee/marshmallow.

Palate: Enters smoothly and understatedly: raw cashews and fairly thin caramel, muted like leather mocha (steamed bulgur). The palate grows, with sharper caramel and perhaps acetone, before starting to thin out to moist coffee grinds.

Finish: Brief or unsubstantial, after the final swallow. Nevertheless a very pleasant aftertaste: Light grapey caramel and maybe some coffee.

Despite my "coffee grind" and "acetone" descriptions, this remains easily drinkable because it avoids bitterness, sourness, and alcohol burn. It is easy to drink and is above average in complexity, although it is below average in character, lacking the pizzazz (including fruits/zest/nuts/toffee) of younger expressions. Not that I would ever pass it up! But its closest kin is the 25, and I would prefer that.

Always been curious about this one. it's unavailable in America

@Volks

Well............. its on my wishlist.

  • Nose: sultana, rum and raisin, some bitter coffee and mocha aromas, and the densest Christmas cake nose I’ve experienced, some wood smoke, strong tea and a bit of cinnamon.

  • Pallet: decadent on the pallet Frangelico liqueur, mocha, Christmas cake, old sherry, leather, nutty chocolate, overdone caramel, and almost a bit of mint or menthol for contrast.

  • Finish: stick caramel lingers on as the pallet fades away, and a little smoke to round things off. A very classy dram.

  • Mark – neat 9.2

This is a bit of a bruiser of a whisky, its a big boy there is no doubt. At the age of 30 i should probably call it a big man but there we are. Water really didn't make any difference to this whisky when i added a drop and given i only had one measure i thought why risk drowning a whisky im enjoying.

n

from purchased sample

Nose: Malty and rather elegant sherry. Fudge, pralines, toffee, butter, bananas, tropical fruit, and fleeting red berries. Smells fat and of rich sherry caramel. Lemony and buttery pie crust that had apples pineapple and cherry.

Palate: A bit straightforward here. Watery sweet on entry. Followed by woody bitterness. This ultimately leads to some coffee and chocolate covered nibs. Not bad, but a bit rough and shocking.

Finish: A little brief, which is disappointing because I do enjoy dark coffee liqueur. Nice and has a rather enjoyable nose, but the palate is more disappointing. Coffee and toffee otherwise.

@SquidgyAsh

I've saved the best for the last!

Odd little way to start a whisky review, but it's true.

My wife had bought me a whisky advent calender from Master of Malt that was made up of 24 different whiskies, from all over the world, different styles, all the good stuff.

I'd decided to start the calender with whiskies that I'd already had and had reviewed. They got no reviews. Hahaha because that was already done.

Then I moved to entry level whiskies that I'd had, but never reviewed.

Then entry level single malts from distilleries that I'd never tried before.

Then whiskies from distilleries that I never thought I'd ever get to see or try, such as Wasmund's Single Malt.

Moving older and older into cask strengths, older whiskies, whiskies from my favorite distilleries.

Whiskies that I COULDN'T WAIT TO TRY!

This would culminate in the 50 year Master of Malt Speyside.

There are 2 more whiskies to come, not counting this review until I reach that bad boy.

This whisky, one that had me so eager to try as it comes from one of my favorite Speyside distilleries was Glenfarclas 30 year old.

I love the Glenfarclas 10 year, I personally think it's one of the best entry level Speysides, love it to death so when I saw that I had several Glenfarclas samples in the calender I knew I had to save them for the end.

The Glenfarclas 30 year was for me, the beginning of the end.

Pouring a lovely dark amber color that made me smile and just look forward in anticipation of what was to come I just spent a solid 90 minutes nosing the glass and admiring the lovely thick legs that slid down the glass.

It smells like a Christmas pudding, it's so beautiful!

Sweet fruit of sultanas, raisins, figs, and lots of spice, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and vanilla. Oak makes it's presence known as is to be expected of a whisky of this age.

However that's not all!

There's wisps of smoke to the nose, hints of green apple and as the whisky opens up, candied oranges.

Lovely, just absolutely lovely.

This is the kind of nose that intrigues you and invites you to take a sip.

So I do!

The oak makes it's presence known immediately, but it's not over the top. A little bitter, but not unpleasantly so, but it's also sweet and salty. Very odd, but entertaining.

Oak, sultanas, nutty, chocolate and vanilla move back and forth with one another going from sweet, salty and bitter again and again, mainly sweet and salty, but so enjoyable.

A long sweet, soft, silky finish full of candied oranges and chocolate end this whisky.

Wow.

Just wow.

Holy Crap.

Beautiful, so very beautiful.

Makes me SO very eager and excited to know that in just a few months I'll be visiting Glenfarclas and picking up quite a few of their high end whiskies.

Family Cask 1981 here I come!

This whisky is extremely gorgeous. One of those that I feel very lucky to have got a chance to try and even better you can find it for sell in Australia!

However it's not cheap, running at around $300-$350 a bottle depending on where you purchase it. But if your looking for a special occasion bottle, one that would be awesome to share with good friends.

If you ever get a chance to try this whisky I'd strongly suggest you do so. It's beautiful and proof once again why Glenfarclas kicks butt!

Hi Squidgy, I was wondering if I might ask your opinion about the 21, 25, and 30 Glenfarclases. Have you tried them all? Which do you like the most?

I have been drinking a great deal of sherry casked whiskies lately. I've yet to try the 30. I have a bottle of the GF21 in my climate controlled safe that I have not opened yet. I tasted it recently at a bar and really enjoyed it.

Lately on Connosr, the 21 is getting higher marks. The 25 has gone down in recent reviews. I know that the 25 is much more sherry influenced than the 21. Which do you like best? That German guy on thewhiskystore on youtube was nice enough to answer my inquiry as to his taste. He recommended that 25 over the 21.

Since I've been drinking so many sherry casks lately, I found the malty sweet goodness of the 21 to be a refreshing respite. Very very smooth and delightful in its own way without quite so much of a sherry influence, which a few months ago I was craving but now, after I have gone through a bottle of the Tobermory 15 and the Glendronach 15 Sherry Cask Revival, I am starting to drift in a different direction--that is, until the sherry bombs call me back eventually. . ..

Thank you for your great review of the 30, Squidgyash. I enjoyed reading it, and I'm sorry that your dram got bumped by the "furballs." I have a basenji and she hates the smell of any alcohol. She won't go near a glass of beer, wine, and especially not whisky! Sometimes I tease her a little and move the glass in her direction. She ducks away and looks up at me with an irritating glare. It's quite hilarious. She is very eye-contact oriented. At any rate, happy tasting, and I hope the furballs do not deprive you of any more precious drops in the future . . . .

@rigmorole Thanks for the kind comments about the review!

Sadly I actually haven't got a chance to try very many Glenfarclas yet. At this point it's been the 12 yr old, the 105, the 20 yr old 105 and this 30 year old. The 12, 20 yr old 105 and the 30 yr old blew me away, however the 105 left me very disappointed. That being said I strongly suspect that the 105 was quite oxidized as several other whiskies that my brother in law and I tried that night were lacking luster to the point where I didnt even bother to take much tasting notes on them.

Biggest reason is I've yet to find a bar serving them and they run at around $140 and $180 respectively. I'm REALLY hoping to get a chance to taste them when I'm over in Scotland as I'll be visiting the distillery to pick up some whiskies. When I get a chance to give them a taste I'll let you know what I think though! I'm sorry I'm not of more help my friend.

As for the dogs not liking alcohol my girl, staffy x cattledog is terrified by the smell of alcohol, any kind. I've only had her for a couple of years, by boy who I've had for about 10 years is now so used to it that he'll sometimes give the whisky a nose hahaha.

@SquidgyAsh

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....

@markjedi1

Glenfarclas, which is still a family company, boasts the fact that it delivers wonderful whiskies at a reasonable Price. That is the least one can say of this whisky. Matured for three decades and still only around 150 EUR. Now, let us taste!

The nose is, surprisingly enough, rather closed. My first reaction after the initial whiff is ‘the herbal mix of Maggi’! That means meaty and herbal. That is soon accompanied by dark, fruity notes such as raisins, dades and dried figs. Some caramelized oranges. A tad minty with some herbs. Pine needles! A bit waxy. Not bad, but I am not knocked off my socks either.

The attack is quite peppery (white pepper) and I get a lot of tannins (tea, woodsmoke). It is fruitier than on the nose, primarily on prunes and figs. Big sherry influence. Phew, this is a drying bloke. Midpalate, it turns rather bitter and a bit sourish à la wine vinager (although that sounds a lot worse than it really is).

The finish is long and more of the same, dying a salty death.

This is certainly a beautiful whisky, but I find the younger versions better (more fruit, less bitterness), especially the 17 Year Old. Around 150 EUR, which is a steal for a 30 year old whisky. But for that price, you can also buy two bottles of the 17 Year Old. Which is what I would do.

@markjedi1, I think you are right about the 30 - it is a good Whisky but I would prefer the 17 and 21 over the 30; as a Glenfarclas fan my favourite bottles of the standard range are the 40 which is a masterpiece, the 17 and the 21. The 15 and 25 are also of superior quality but the 17 has more complexity than the 15 and the 21 is as refined as the 25 but has more power and the extra hint of smoke. I really appreciate the whole range of Glenfarclas as they offer intrinsic quality with fair prices; the only disappointment was the 175 for me; this expression is a good whisky but when I look at the price I would rather buy a bottle of 21 and 105 instead.

I bought a bottle of this last year and was very impressed with it, by far the best in the range and probably one of my favourite malts to date. I decided to buy another bottle a few days ago , opened it today and to be honest was very disapointed with the contents. The differences between the 2 bottles are huge, it lacks the depth, richness,and those wonderfull chocolate notes which were so prominent in the previous batch. Its not that its a bad whisky - just nothing at all like the one before unfortunately. My advice to anyone thinking of buying this is - like mark stated go for the 15 or 17. I had heard that inconsistincies between batches had been resolved, judging by this most definately not

@DrB

Reviewed by @DrB

0 5100/100

Plums and raisin bread, and some latex paint, on the nose. There was toffee as well and something creamy but difficult to describe. A bit like mayonnaise, the latex paint again… something sweet and creamy a little like candy but without any sharpness. The whisky was very, very smooth.

Finally got round to buying the 30 along with the 15 and 17. Goes without saying the 30 Year old is the pick of the bunch - a truly exquisite whisky I cant praise it enough. From the ever developing nose through to the deliciously rich sherried palate and finally one of the longest and most sublime finishes I have ever encountered - I swear I am still tasting chocolate almost an hour after my first glass. If there is one premium whisky which you might want to treat yourself to then this should be right up there - fantastic dram

im considering getting this as my next purchase as well,sounds like a good one and am enjoying the 21 yo a lot.However im gettin drawn towards a karuizawa 1982 i never tried japanese whisky and it sounds a bit tasty too,anyway i got a few weeks to decide while i save up.As far as the scoring goes you are right le frog i think ive been a bit genourous myself too.A 100 points guide would be better.

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