Glenfarclas 17 Years Review

I’ve talked about Glenfarclas a lot on the site this year… so why stop now? Hello Glenfarclas 17 years review! Though seriously, there is no end in sight for the amount of Glenfarclas that will be covered here. So I hope you’re also a fan.

Though, I have to give credit where it’s due. The reason it’s so well covered here is because of Malt Nuts. We have tasted a TON of Glenfarclas, but we rarely taste from the Farclas core range. We typically stick to indie bottlings or distillery/Family Casks bottlings.

Because of the above, I figured it was time to pull something out of the core to taste and reflect on. To dip back into what ‘Farclas puts out to the masses. So, without further delay, let’s get to drinkin’ and give this Farclas 17 a taste drive.

Glenfarclas 17 Years – Details and Tasting Notes

Whiskey Details

Region: Speyside, Scotland

Distiller: Glenfarclas
Mash Bill: 100% Malted Barley
Cask: ex-Sherry
Age: 17 Years
ABV: 43%

Price: $100

White background tasting shot with the Glenfarclas 17 Years bottle and a glass of whiskey next to it.

“100% Oloroso sherry cask maturation. Hints of oak, complexity but finely balanced. Combines the smoothness of our younger whiskies with the greater depth of our older expressions.” – Glenfarclas

Tasting Notes

EYE
Amber honey

NOSE
Strawberry taffy, honey grahams, cocoa, dried cherries, sulfur and some banana-nut muffins.

Not super complex, but not exactly a lame-duck aroma either. It just is.

PALATE
Strawberry taffy, honey grahams, cocoa, dried cherries, sulfur and some banana-nut muffins with a bit of cranberry and blueberry.

Glenfarclas 17 Years’ palate is almost a carbon copy of the aroma but with some interesting added fruit notes.

FINISH
Medium -> Vanilla taffy, banana-nut muffin, cocoa, sulfur and a bit of leather.

BALANCE, BODY and FEEL
Well balanced, med-light body and a light easy feel.

Glenfarclas 17 Years – Overall Thoughts and Score

This sits in kind of in a weird purgatorial middle ground of being better than a MOTR whisky, but not really engaging enough to push on through to something I reach for regularly; a 2.75 if you will. But, since I don’t do 1/4s, I’m rounding up because there’s really nothing wrong with it.

I’ve had this bottle open, sitting prominently on my shelf for a little over 3 years and it’s about 3/5ths empty (2/5ths full if you’re an optimist). In comparison, the Tomatin 14 Port I posted a couple of months ago, I bought at the beginning of the year and will be killed this weekend. There’s nothing wrong with the Glenfarclas 17 Years, but it’s not exciting and at the end of the day it’s something I could just as easily use in a cocktail as sip it.

SCORE: 3/5

Glenfarclas 17 Years Review $100

Summary

It’s a decent whisky with a pronounced, enough, sherry profile that folks who enjoy sherried malts might enjoy it. Though it’s far from the rich, bordering sherry-bombs, of their Family Casks line.