Gaggle of Glenfarclas 3, the third time the Malt Nuts have gathered to sip indie drams from one of our favorite distilleries. Like all of our Glenfarclas tastings, the indies we sourced are only “highly believed to be” Glenfarclas since the name of the distillery cannot be used on any bottles not bottled by them.
They’re very protective of the name and get a bit litigious if you try to use the name of the distillery on your bottles or casks of whisky. That’s why you never see the name Glenfarclas on indie bottles and will instead see names like “Possibly Speyside’s Finest” to signify this particular distillery. Though we had none of those bottles that night. Instead, we had lines of whisky from bottlers that use their own names for this source with a grab-bag of others in the middle.
Done as a remote tasting facilitated after breaking the bottles down into minis… here we go.
Malt Nuts: Gaggle of Glenfarclas 3 – Pre Round
Pre 1: Black Snake Vat 3 – First Venom: 56.1% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Honey, vanilla, malt, orange peel, malt, overripe fruit
- Palate: Honey, vanilla, malt, orange peel, circus peanuts, overripe fruit
- Finish: Long -> Orange creamsicle, malt.
- Overall: (3.5 / 5) Decent way to start a tasting. Touch hot, but could just be because it’s first.
Pre 2: Black Snake Vat 1 – Third Venom: 58.9% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Touch farty sulfur, sweet dried fruit, malty cereal sweet, spice, copper.
- Palate: Touch farty sulfur, sweet dried fruit, malty cereal sweet, spice, copper.
- Finish: Long -> Orange creamsicle and hay-like malt.
- Overall: (3 / 5) Soft and easy with a strong sweetness.
Pre 3: Black Snake Vat 2 First Venom: 57.5% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Fruity, farty, clay, orange marmalade, Smarties and hay-like malt.
- Palate: Candy sweet, spice, touch sulfur, orange marmalade, Smarties and hay-like malt with some leather.
- Finish: Long -> Orange creamsicle, cinnamon and malt.
- Overall: (3 / 5) Weird, all three of the “pre whiskies” have a soft orange note to them. Wonder if they’re actually Farclas…
Post-Reveal Commentary: It’s “all but confirmed” this line from Blackadder is Glenfarclas and so I was a bit surprised to get some of the notes I did. The soft orange note threw me a bit because I’ve never picked that up in a Farclas that was sherry cask. Fun round.
Malt Nuts: Gaggle of Glenfarclas 3 – Round 1
1A: Whisky-Fassle “A Speyside Distillery” 5 years (08-14): 46.9% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Malty, fruity, copper and a touch herbal.
- Palate: Malt, vanilla, fruit, copper, citrus, dried fruit.
- Finish: Med -> Malty and fruity.
- Overall: (2.5 / 5) Decent, some good notes, but overall average. Youthful clay notes arise with water.
1B: TWE “From a family owned distillery in Speyside” 11 years: 57.9% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Fruity, touch oaky, caramel, citrus, vanilla frosting and a bit floral.
- Palate: Fruit bomb, leather, cocoa, nuts and slight herbal notes.
- Finish: Long -> Fruuuuuiiiittt… and malt
- Overall: (3.5 / 5) Very nice, touch dry, but good and opens to a warmer fruitiness and a touch floral on nose.
1C: SMWS 1.219 10 years (08-18): 64.3% – Refill Oloroso
- Nose: Banana chips, malt, oak, floral and a bit of caramel.
- Palate: Super fruity, cocoa and leather with bits of caramel and baking spice.
- Finish: Long -> Fruity, malty, candied sweet and oaky.
- Overall: (3 / 5) Quite dry and fruity with some nice graham notes popping up when it opens.
1D: Malts of Scotland Bridge of Avon: 53.2% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Winey, fruity, malty and a touch coppery.
- Palate: Fruity, minerality, touch smokey/firecracker sulfur and some spice.
- Finish: Long -> Sulfur, copper, fruit, smoke
- Overall: (3/ 5) Super unique, but on the whole a bit… meh. Gains a more sulfury note and some minerality as it opens.
Post-Reveal Commentary: The SMWS one I thought might, possibly, be a first-fill bourbon with the banana and oak notes. Instead, it was a refill sherry cask, and I think it might have been a very tired cask. The most surprising to me was the TWE offering that exploded with fruit. Quite nice.
Malt Nuts: Gaggle of Glenfarclas 3 – Round 2
2A: Adelphi “Breath of Speyside” 10 years (06-17): 58.4% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Sherried malt, graham, citrus, overripe apricots and nuts.
- Palate: Cocoa, sherry, fresh fruit, citrus, nuts and spice.
- Finish: Long -> Malt, fruit, cocoa and spice
- Overall: (3.5 / 5) Buttery, round and creamy with a spicy profile that grows as it opens.
2B: Adelphi “Breath of Speyside” 10 years (06-17): 58.5% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Sherry, malty, graham, dark fruit syrup, caramel and nuts.
- Palate: Cocoa, sherry, leather, cherry-heavy dark fruit and sulfur.
- Finish: Med -> Malt, fruit, cocoa and spice.
- Overall: (3 / 5) Decent, nothing off or super about it, just a nice Farclas.
2C: Adelphi “Breath of Speyside” 11 years (06-20): 56.8% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Sherry, malt, dry minerality, citrus, caramel, spice and nuts.
- Palate: Sherry, malt, caramel, dry minerality, vanilla and citrus.
- Finish: Long -> Vanilla, sherry, citrus and spice.
- Overall: (3.5 / 5) Good, but dang… it comes through HOT. Could be fatigue, or could be proof. Either way, it’s coming through super hot right now. Also, there’s a typo on the bottle.
2D: Adelphi “Breath of Speyside” 11 years (06-18): 58.2% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Honey Nut Cheerios, dried fruit, vanilla taffy and citrus.
Palate: Butterscotch, cocoa, citrus, malt and dried fruit with a touch of spice. - Finish: Long -> Sweet, dark and fruity, cocoa.
- Overall: (3.5 / 5) Fun! Dark and awesome with these weird stone fruit notes popping in and out. I’d drink this anytime.
2E: Adelphi “Breath of Speyside” 11 years (06-17): 57.7% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Musty, malty, fruity, leathery and nutty with a strong dried apricot profile.
- Palate: Sherry, cocoa, citrus, dried fruit, malt, roasted nuts and vanilla taffy with that same dried apricot heaviness.
- Finish: Long -> Sweet dark fruit, malt and citrus
- Overall: (4 / 5) Good and fun and full. Damn, this is good but also just, so, odd.
Post-Reveal Commentary: I’ve seen, but never had, anything from this particular Adelphi series, so this was a real treat and an insane deep dive into what this line brings to the table. I’m already an Adelphi fan, they deliver great casks more often than not, but this turned me into a super fan with what they can deliver.
Malt Nuts: Gaggle of Glenfarclas 3 – Bonus Round
Bonus 1: Nose Art “Christmas Malt” 14 years (01-15): 45.7% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Matchstick, fruity, malty, but really it’s just oxidized. Light and minerally and weak.
- Palate: Sulfur, fruit and malt, but they’re super light and again it’s mostly that minerally oxidized profile.
- Finish: Long -> Minerally oxidized whisky with a bit of fruit.
- Overall: (1.5 / 5) What’s going on here? This is kinda gross and overly oxidized. Did the seal break on it?
Bonus 2: Glenfarclas Family Casks 10 years (04-15): 60.4% – ex-Sherry
- Nose: Sweet and fruity, spicy with a bit of clay-like minerality and some dried dark fruit.
- Palate: Heavy dark fruit, leather, cocoa, baking spice and malt .
- Finish: Long -> Dried dark fruit, cocoa and oak.
- Overall: (3.5 / 5) Nice, quite nice. A heck of a way to end a tasting.
Post-Reveal Commentary: This was a lot of fun to try an OB right next to an IB. The Nose Art line has shown up in several of other tastings and have shown to be a bit of a wildcard in their quality, but always a crowd-pleaser on the label front.
This is far from the last time we’ll be visiting Glenfarclas. This is a well-loved distillery and they continue to pump out quality whisky, whether they bottle it or not, and I’m already looking forward to the next one.
Thanks for reading, cheers!
