Number 7 in the countdown to 300. I must have walked past Glenfarclas 25 a dozen or more times in my early foray into whisky. AUD$350 in my big liquor store. I often thought to myself how rubbish it must be, $350, Highland Park 25 is around AUD$1000. This Glenfarclas must be cheap slops. I have learned since then. Not a lot, but enough. I am very pleased to be moving into some nice age statements as I edge ever closer to 300. N: A few harsh whiffs of what I can only chalk up to sulphur notes and then into the good stuff. There is a nose opening menthol or wild mint early on for me that allows a rich and oozy bouquet to unravel. Rich figs, espresso, treacle, bitter marmalade. It’s all going on, and then some. A gentle warm spice profile is present and made of equal parts crystallised ginger, cinnamon, with tobacco and leather laden wood tannins. P: Surprisingly juicy, creamy, and gently textured. The mouthfeel is an excellent canvas here. No hint of sulphur, just a whistle clean profile. Sherry, sure. Strawberry, cherry, mocha, leather, a little herbal mint and cardamon. Almonds. There is a creamy barely though, the malt is not lost to aggressive sherry casking. I think honey is carried through with that barely cream presence too. Lovely. Over time the wood develops and unfolds; wood shavings are dark as if stained by leather and tobacco smoke. The tannins are tempered by the darkness and come with more ginger, maybe cinnamon and clove. Milky chocolate runs the background unifying thread. F: Long. The full palate is here, but it leaves a lasting bright juiciness, rich creaminess, and ultimately goes out to plain chocolate and the suggestion of jam on toast. This is undeniably a classic sherry cask profile, but age has tempered this from what could have been a sherry bomb into a more demure and considered dram with subtleties and nuance. The initial off-putting sulphur quickly subsided, I rarely like sulphur notes (Mjolner excepted) and but moments in the glass were enough to see it off. The palate is somehow walking a razor thin line between bright and juicy and rich and dark. A deft hand crafted this whisky. I’m an hour into this dram, admittedly it was a large 50 ml pour, but having fully merged with my arm chair I am feeling deeply satisfied with this liquid. This is not a magical transformative experience. It is not a revolutionary dram that rocks the boat or excels at anything in flamboyant fashion. This is a quiet, understated and magnanimous whisky that affords enjoyment to, I suspect, the beginner through to the expert. I have found quiet peace in the bottom of this dram and that surely is worth more than the meagre price point of this 25 year old gem? Distiller whisky taste #294 [Pictured here with one of my singular favourite rocks: a banded metagabbro-eclogite from Lago Superiore in NW Italy. This rock is from part of a 35 km long shear zone through a metaophiolite complex in the Piemonte area of Italy. These metamorphic rocks represent complex geological histories and originate from cumulate (layers of crystal mush) gabbros found deep at the base of oceanic crust later thrust onto the earths surface as an ophiolite after being metamorphosed during subduction processes at around 550 degrees C and up to 2.8 GPa and then further altered by retrograde processes on the way up. Light bands are comprised of retrograde epidote, actinolite and plagioclase. Dark bands are comprised of predominantly prograde omphacite. The banding reflects original igneous layers enriched in Fe+Ti (light green) and Mg-Al (dark green)].