24 Days of Christmas: Day 18;
A Sexy Christmas Pudding Whisky!

Whisky: Glenfarclas 30 year old

 

Distillery/Brand:

Glenfarclas

 

Bottling:

Glenfarclas 30 Year old

 

Region:

Speyside

 

ABV:

43%

 

Colour:

Old Sauternes

Review:
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!

Nose:        24/25
Taste:       23/25
Finish:       23/25
Balance:    23/25

Overall:    92/100