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Glenfarclas 15 Year Old

$91
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RATING

8

Review: Glenfarclas 15 Year Old

A 15 year old single malt from Glenfarclas distillery in Speyside, Scotland. This family-owned distillery is renowned for its sherry cask releases, and this expression is part of its core range. Bottled at 46% ABV without chill filtration or added colour.
  • Ed Leigh is the founder of TopWhiskies.com and an expert in independent bottlers.
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Tasting Notes:

About:
A 15 year old single malt from Glenfarclas distillery in Speyside, Scotland. This family-owned distillery is renowned for its sherry cask releases, and this expression is part of its core range. Bottled at 46% ABV without chill filtration or added colour.
Appearance:
Medium gold. Prominent legs around the glass.
Nose:
Red berries macerated in sugar. Further red fruit, plums and dates. Caramel sweetness and a nutty character.
Palate:
Medium mouthfeel. Full of fruit with plum, redcurrant, raisins and dates. Fruit and nut chocolate with orange peel. A little cinnamon and nutmeg. Alcohol is well integrated.
Finish:
Medium to long. Red fruit moves into crumbly raisin fudge. Red berries linger at the finale.
Comments:
A quality single malt that should be straightforward to find and priced fairly. A good option for someone who wants to start exploring scotch further.

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

Is Glenfarclas 15 Good Value For Money?

In a world where things are becoming more expensive for you, the whisky drinker, Glenfarclas 15 is still a great value purchase for anyone in the whisky world. A heavily sherried, decently boozed bottling at 46%, that comes from a distillery with such heritage and enjoyment from drinkers across the world.

The Glenfarclas 15 Year Old’s closest rivals (The Macallan 15 Year Old Double Cask, The Dalmore 15 Year Old, and Mortlach 16 Year Old) come in a little more expensive, for lesser influences of sherry, certainly in the cask of The Dalmore and Mortlach. The Macallan 15 does have all sherry maturation, just with some unusual wording around it. But within all of these heavy-weight brands, the only bottle that comes too close to getting into the rain with it is, oddly enough, Glenfiddich 15 Year Old. That bottle is an underrated sherry monster. It is bottled at a lesser ABV but is a little cheaper as a result.

Overall, Glenfarclas 15 is still a very good value-for-money bottle, no matter what part of the world you’re in.

Why Are Sherry Casks So Important?

We could be here for a while with that question – but to keep it simple, some distillery stocks just work well with sherry. We have two huge examples of that in Glenfarclas and The Macallan. Some of you will have been lucky enough to try either distillery style in ex-bourbon, but most of the time it isn’t met with as much applause as the sherry cask maturation, or bourbon cask matured stocks from other distilleries.

Having those rich, intense barrel notes to sand down some of the rougher edges of new-make spirit is an absolute godsend in this industry, and you can argue that sherry does it like no other.

There are some massive variants in where the barrels are stored in a warehouse, what type of sherry has been used if the distillate is a little bit higher on one cask run than another, but overall, the sherry still is one of the key ingredients in scotch whisky. Even within brands who perhaps focus on other cask maturation, we guarantee you that there are sherry cask in that vatting, they just aren’t talked about. It is an incredibly important thing in the world of whisky.

Final Thoughts on Glenfarclas 15?

This whisky does fall into the brackets of ‘legendary’ for quite a lot of drinkers around the globe. It’s rich, easy-drinking, available, affordable, and rarely seems to be absent from shelves.

Much as with any batched product, there can be some big variations in it, so do bear that in mind when it comes to fully matured sherry cask whiskies. Sometimes it can be a little drier than sweet.

But, if you’ve never tried Glenfarclas before, this is probably the best jumping-off point for the entire range and is still the most well-priced after the price hikes on the older variations – which in all honesty did come across as quite weak when compared to this.

Ed Leigh

Ed Leigh is a recognized authority on independent bottlers and artisan Scotch whisky. In 2019, he founded TopWhiskies.com, a specialist retailer dedicated to promoting these often family-run businesses and showcasing their small-batch releases. Based in London, Ed holds certifications in both wine and spirits from The Wine & Spirit Education Trust.

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