Glenfarclas 15 Year

All this time, and I've never actually written up notes on this, one of the treasures (by which I mean whiskies not commercially available in the US) I brought home from Scotland this past summer. The bottle was purchased at the distillery after our tour, and it was money well spent. The nose overflows with the sherry-influenced profile that's to be expected from Glenfarclas; in the 15, I get dark brown sugar, fig jam and vanilla cake (almost like a Fig Newton), almond brittle, and...waxy shoe polish. Medium bodied with a slight nip of alcoholic heat, the palate does have an ever so slight waxy quality to it. Flavors of candied plum, dried fig, almond, pastry crust, and vanilla come to the forefront; with a drop of water, there's a minty note at the very end. An ever-so-slightly bitter note rounds things out and keeps this from being a total dessert dram. A lovely, fairly priced (from what I remember) dram that I wouldn't mind see cross the pond!

My initial impression of this wasn't very positive. It certainly wasn't bad, but I wasn't getting the "Christmas cake" notes I've seen attributed to it in most reviews. There was something off about it that wasn't sitting right with me. After working through a third of the bottle that started to change. The strange, vaguely off-putting note I encountered right away has receded, replaced by appetizing shortbread, cereal and all-spice or cinnamon notes. The unidentifiable note was still there, but at a comfortable distance. A whisky friend described it as "carob". Certainly possible. The dram is improving as I work through the bottle, fast becoming a favorite. This is my first Glenfarclas, so I'm not sure if the "carob" notes I found unpalatable right after opening are typical or not. Given the high cost of importing this to the US, I'm not sure I'd buy it again until I've sampled some of the standard bottlings available locally - the 12, 17 or 25 perhaps.

3.6 Reminds me of the nectar d'or nose, but better. Honey! Leaving it for 15min with a splash of water opened up the dram and brought out the sherry. This is a very different dram than the Glendronachs or the Aberlours of this world. Not smooth - alcohol burn.

Many enthusiast feel that this age most deafly demonstrates the complexity of this malt; certainly the best balanced