Tastes

Nose is light peat, light plum and vanilla. Palate is very similar, but the vanilla leads and runs from start to finish, with brief bursts of cherry, fig, and raspberry jam leading to a close that is ever so slightly hot and finally has just a glimpse of Talisker black pepper. Overall an intersting and enjoyable drink. I think it complements the core series rather than exceeds as something special, but marketers are indeed paid to market.

Nose is grass, hay and wet campfire ashes. Not boring, but also not intriguing. Palate is slightly thin but mouth-coating, with the smoke leading and followed in short succession by wet straw, ash and barrel tanins. Finish is all campfire smoke, and lasts longer than the main taste. No discernible peat, iodine or salt…fairly flat and one-note. Not bad, but certainly not special, and there are far better offerings for less cash.

Nose is sweet cereal grains, Special K, Frosted Flakes, any artificial sweetener, some strawberry after a little time. No smoke on the nose. Palate is sweet and fruity, raspberry preserves on dry toast, strawberries and fig becomes dark chocolate covered cherries that linger for minutes before a clean, very slightly astringent, close. A very nice drink, and I’d be happy to have a bottle of this, presuming I hadn’t paid for it.

Nose is drier than batch 4, with sand and brine and smoke from a small campfire. Palate is nicely warming and smooth, with vanilla butter biscuit, green apples, hay, and a nice hint of peat leading to a slightly woody, dry, and clean finish. More obviously an Ardbeg, but also quite refined and approachable. My favorite of the series so far.

Nose is dried cedar chips and blackstrap molasses, with a light salt backdrop. Palate is smooth, almost creamy, with red delicious apples, shortbread, and brown sugar briefly making appearances before closing wirh a nice burst of vanille toffee and oak, and light smoke tying it together from start to finish. Almost too smooth to be Ardbeg, yet still identifieable. Very nice, and well created.

This needs time to breath. Aroma doesn’t change much, being rather earthy and grassy, with a backchannel of dried dark fruits. Palate changes a lot. First sip was lightly sweet apples and artificial honey backed by ethanol, with no middle and an abrupt close that was dry acetone. After 10 minutes in the glass, the ethanol is much reduced, the honey is deeper, and I can find golden raisin in the middle before a quick close that is now acceptably astringent instead of acetone harsh. Probably not a repeat, but I’m happy to have found and tried it.

Nose is light, white fruits with an undercurrent of old grass clippings. Palate opens with apples and honey, becomes slightly sweeter like honeydew melon and then closes with oak tannins and wood shavings. Nicely smooth, creamy and gently warming, with great legs in the glass. Wish I had better luck finding this in the states.

Sitting in the glass this has beautiful lacy legs climbing up the sides of the glencairn. A swirl coats the glass and takes minutes time to settle. Nose is fruit heavy, with a backing of sugar. If you put pears, cherries, green and red apples and honeydew in a pot with a cup of brown sugar and tuned the burner on low, after 15 minutes it would smell like this. It’s so varied and balanced that it keeps me coming back, even when the glass is almost empty. Smooth, rich and creamy on the tongue. Obviously sherried, but not one-note. Dried fig, cherry, vanilla bean, caramel and honeysuckle dance across the palate before a rather quick transition to dry grass/straw keeps the sweetness in check. Like the nose - balanced. I like all of the Glenfarclas that I’ve had, but this is by far my favorite. If you see one, grab it; you wont be disappointed. Personal note - Review #200. Crazy blessed to be able to sample such a variety, not only by being in the right place at the right time with a little cash, but mostly because of the love and understanding of a wonderful wife who tolerates even my frivilous hobbies. Please note that I appreciate every comment left over the years, and I continue to learn from, and be humbled by, the vast knowledge so many in this community freely share with others solely for love of the craft and a desire to see it continue for future generations. Sláinte!

I figured a pour from a 7-month open, half-full bottle would be ready to go. I was wrong. At first blush the nose is salt spray, muted peat and rubber. Palate was hot, salty, a little smoky and overwhelmingly bitter. After 20 minutes of me forgetting about it I realized it was still on the table and gave it another sip with far different results. Nose is still much the same, but now there’s a bit of crab apple to sweeten the aroma and it’s more obviously Laphroaig but still also very Ardbegian. Palate is still spicy but no longer hot, with lighter than expected peat smoke, dry hay, burnt apple turnovers, and a faint thread of honey closing with a pleasant tingle on the lips and gums. Lacks the heft and richness of the 10 year, or those wonderful smoked meats of the 10yr CS.

Nose is very faintly almonds backed by Demerara sugar and what could charitably be described as a burnt pie crust lurking in the shadows. Palate is heavy-ish, mouth-coating but not overly viscous, and with a bit more heat than I would have expected for 12yrs and 40abv. Vanilla, honeysuckle and canned fruit salad in light syrup (with its commensurate slightly metallic side-note) is the best I can come up with. Close is short but not abrupt, slightly hot, and consists almost completley of those wood tannins I expected earlier. The mouthfeel is really nice, but the flavor profile, or more appropriately the lack of any distinguishable flavors at all, is a huge letdown. Makes a great Irish coffee, but so does Jameson Black Barrel or Bushmills Black Bush, and they’re readily available, cost less, and dare I say, taste better?