Glenfarclas 15 Year

Today I'm missing my late grandmother who passed away two years ago. While she wasn't much of a drinker, a negligible amount of "schnapps" poured into her cup would elicit a cheeky "...what, are you trying to get me drunk?" with a big smile across her face. In the spirit of family, it makes my heart happy to know that Glenfarclas 15 is bottled at 46% ABV because it was their grandfather's strength preference of choice. Grandparents are special.  My first inhale of Glenfarclas 15 gives me a beautiful trio of apricot, butterscotch and chocolate. Orange marmalade, sherry and oak seep in later. This nose is sumptuous.  This single malt is rich, oily and the kind of medium gold in colour that nicely compliments their iconic yellow labeling. Mild sherried sweetness pairs with white pepper, inspiring a shiver down my spine. A light tannic transition takes me to a moderate, comparatively mellow finish laced with cocoa nibs, walnuts and oak . The nose is a perfume that I'd be fine to bathe myself in. I wish there was more transference of that aroma substance within its flavour as well. While I would happily sip this dram, it's hard to not feel wistful for the excellence of their 21 year old bottling.  7.5/10

I have some years navigating my whisky adventure and i have tasted a lot of expressions from different distilleries, and the fact that i never tasted a Glenfarclas 15yo before is embarrasing for me. A true speyside classic, Glenfarclas sits in the same table of some other famous single malts from the same scottish region. Of course i expected some of the traditional tasting and aroma notes from this distillery. Bottled at 46%abv, This is a sherried matured whisky. On the nose, i got prunes, the typical glenfarclas apple note and cooked pineapple. Pretty nice. On the palate, the first note that appeared was sugar, sider and that apple profile that makes Glenfarclas unmistakeable. Aftertaste is all about milk and sugar notes with delicious red apples. Overall, this is exactly what you expect from a core range Glenfarclas. Nothing to die for, a properly done, average speyside dram. It will be enjoyable a 100% of the time, and you can use this one as an everyday single malt. My score system says 80 over 100, and i think that it is a precise score for a classic.

I recently did a tasting vertical of Glenfarclas 12, 15, 17, 21 and 25 along with the 105 NAS. I have full bottles of the 12, 17 and 105 NAS and got a sample set of the others to see what I was missing. My feeling is that I was not missing much. It seems like GF peaks at around 17-18 years with their production offerings. I suspect that any really good older barrels are being sold as single cask offerings. Not inexpensive as the 12-year old and not as complex or tasty as the 17-year old. There is nothing wrong with this 15-year old expression but nothing that stands out about it. It kind of makes me wonder about the Distiller score. I think this score like many was based on a much older release when the quality was much higher. It is certainly not bad but I would recommend getting the 17-year old or 105 NAS instead.

Actually a Speyside instead of a Highland. Destillery’s still like to confuse us and some of them see the speyside region as a sub-region of Highland. This malt still suprised me. It’s exactly at 46% what is special (most of them are 46,3% for example). It also means that it is non-chill filtered and we love that. It’s actually the only one that is non-chill filtered from the Glenfarclas series. Also at a natural colour. I chilled the malt for some time and there appeared some nice scotch mist what caused a better qualitly delivery in my opinion. Nose: Creamy, very malt-rich, dried fruits, mild nutty mixed with dark spices (like cardamom, clove and cinnemon) and some mocca notes. Taste: lots of dried fruits, plum, even a little minty. Conclusion: A nice approachable and easy drinking single malt.

Nose: Light cream sherry, herbal, hints of overripe fruit and butter Palate: Sherry, Christmas cake, orange zest, walnut, dark dried fruits Finish: Medium long. More sherry, dried fruit, orange peel, dates, walnuts and almonds. The aftertaste has a pleasantly souring note. For many years, Glenfarclas 15 has been a front of shelf dram. In my opinion, this is the star of the core range (although probably tied with the 25). It’s an easy drinking 46% and doesn’t need any dilution. A strongly Oloroso sherried, slightly herbal, nutty dram. My only, fairly minor, criticisms are that it’s a little thin on the palate and, while it has some complexity on the finish, it’s a one trick pony on the nose and palate. However, that’s really just nitpicking - this is a very pleasant wee dram.

Nose - Ripe apples/pears, orange, raisins, red cherries, red raspberries Taste - Ripe apples/pears, orange zest, raisins, milk chocolate, honey Finish - Lingering apple/pear cider, orange, raisins Score - 86/100 Final Thoughts - Nice fruity & vibrant nose. Very nice lightly sherried whisky that does everything well and isn't overly sweet. Feels like a very summery whisky although might lean into late summer / fall in that it gives off ripe apple orchard vibes. Very easy to sip and not have to think about it too much. Not the most complex whisky, but just something nice to sip on. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Yes Would I buy a bottle? - Yes NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.