Glenfarclas 22 Year (2001), Cadenhead’s
Whisky: Glenfarclas 22 Year (2001), Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection
Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside
ABV: 51.8%
Cask: Oloroso Hogshead Finish
Age: 22 Years (Distilled 2001, Bottled Oct. 2024)
Nose: Rich, dried fruit, chocolate, hammy fruits, nougat and caramel, hints of floral sakura blossom, malty, herbal spice and pepper late to arrive.
Palate: Medium-bodied, syrupy, concentrated fruits, chocolate, tobacco, baking spices, anise, musty dunnage toward the end.
Finish: Long and drying with fruit candies, pepper, cream, and pine.
Score: 7-8 (87)
Mental Image: Hidden Dunnage Chocolatier
Narrative & Notes: Rich dried fruits and chocolate candies rolled out of the glass— chocolate bon bons with strawberry cream filling and nougat, figgy jam stuffed chocolates, sakura blossom chocolate waffles, and a bit of caramel fudge drizzled on everything. Pepper and bread crumbs lingered further in with hints of herbal spice— oddly like panko covered tilapia fillets. Medium-bodied with a syrupy, almost glassy, quality on the palate. The flavor profile featured syrupy fruits and chocolate before taking a turn toward tobacco and old cigar boxes at the end. Baking spices and anise, perhaps a bit of licorice and sambuca, arrived with leather and musty earth— memories of the dunnage warehouses at Sprinbank. The finish was long and drying with fruity candies, pepper, a touch of cream, and more pine sap and needles with time.
Lovely stuff from a distillery whose whiskies I do not get taste often enough. The cask was strong on this, but not overpowering— it was considerably more balanced and nuanced than some of the other sherry finished whiskies from Cadenhead’s these days. I could have been convinced that this was a second or third fill full maturation in a sherry butt rather than a finish. While I do not often gravitate toward big sherried whiskies, when I do, one of my favorite styles is these chocolate and tobacco dominant profiles.
Overall, this was the king of the October tasting pack I grabbed while in Campbeltown last year and its too bad I did not grab the last bottle of this sitting on the shelf at Cadenheads— though a friend did.
