I wasn't planning on buying anything this month, especially not a young Speysider, but I saw this bottle in the January outturn and just couldn't resist. A peated Glenfarclas (!). Glenfarclas is a family-owned Speyside distillery known primarily for very heavily sherried whiskies, and I have never seen a peated variant of any of their whiskies, ever. Not one.
So when this showed up, I had to buy it and try it. Apparently the story is: this spent 8 years in a 2nd fill barrel... and the first fill of the barrel must have held heavily, heavily peated whisky. When a whisky ages in a wood barrel, it's not just the oils and esters and other chemicals in the wood that are imparted into the liquid... the liquid, for its part, sends chemicals and oils and esters right back into the wood, in turn. And here, heavy peat and smoke were residing in the barrel used here.
Coming from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society ("SMWS"), this single cask independent bottling has the following official tasting notes:
We all looked at each other, are you getting the same as me? Yes, smoke! Roasted Tonka beans with the aromatic scent of burnt vanilla and bitter almonds. A fragrant smoke on the palate neat – could it be that the valley of the green grass and the surrounding heathery hills were on fire? A real mystery what happened here, a 2nd fill bourbon barrel, but what was the first fill? After we added water salted caramel, sage and treacle next to cinnamon-stewed apples and roasted chestnuts on the nose appeared. The taste was now sweet, lightly smoked pears with gingersnap stuffing and a dollop of soft whipped cream.
Fascinating in the extreme. I confess I had to look up Tonka beans - they come from the Amazonian kumaru tree (which live over 1,000 years!) and apparently give off an intense perfume that is something like an acrid, complex vanilla odor. And its active ingredient, coumarin, was one of the first artificial vanilla flavors... but was discovered to be highly toxic in high amounts. Who on earth at the tasting panel at SMWS has sampled a tonka bean???
Fragrant smoke: yes, please. Also, the "valley of the green grass" comment is a subtle nod to the Glenfarclas distillery - that's what "Glenfarclas" directly translates to in English. I am really hoping the first fill here was something like Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Octomore or Port Charlotte, etc. It sounds like the smoke dominates the palate, which I know I will like.
Then: salted caramel and sage?? Apples and pears and ginger alongside significant smoke... I'm highly interested. Bottled at a very robust 64% ABV, let's dig down into this curio:
Nose: A subtle nose. Closed, at first. Initial imprint is smoked citrus: blood orange, orange, maybe grapefruit. Light smoke. Vanilla sweetness that occasionally morphs in those sugar-encrusted fruit gels: citric sweetness.
With water it opens up a bit more, with hints of caramels, almonds, and a soft but distinct floral bouquet. Over time it develops an interesting "chalky, tart fruit candy" flavor.
Deep down in the bottle, a half or more consumed, I suddenly got bright notes of tropical fruit! It was a nice surprise. Dried pineapple and mango pieces. Meanwhile, the smoke and peat really take a back seat. You have to search for them. The neck pour was tons of smoke; oxidized, it all but vanishes and becomes a rather typical bourbon-aged Speyside.
Mouthfeel: Medium, chewy.
Palate: Wow, interesting. Bolder on the tongue than the shy nose would indicate. Smoke! Quite a lot of smoke. I get mainly notes of pear, apple, orange, and wood smoke - like a freshly extinguished campfire. The peat itself producing the smoke is relatively muted - no giant earthy or coastal flavors to give hints about the origin of the cask. Some light herbs.
And damn, it's hot - the 64% alcohol content really punches through. With a couple splashes of taming water, this becomes noticeably sweeter. Caramel, salted nuts, poached pears, baked apples, all tied together with a smoking twine. Much better with water. I also pick up that chalky candy flavor - something fruity and tart like Sweetarts or Runts or Starburst or even Skittles. I have also tasted that in very young Clynelish bottles, so perhaps it's a result of the age along with the distillation technique.
Down into the bottle, as with the nose, the spirit changes considerably. Smoke declines appreciably. Tropical fruit emerge - still pineapple and mango, perhaps a little coconut - and that candy brightness gets stronger. This becomes more of a young Speyside as it oxidizes. Which is fine, and it tastes great, but it does strip it of a little bit of identity.
Finish: Quite a nice finish - tendrils of smoke along with soft fruit and chalky flower petals. Lasts a good bit. Stronger with water.
Verdict: What a curiosity! If I had to guess, based on the fragrance and general flavors at hand, I would say that the first fill of this barrel was something like Bowmore or Bunnahabhain - an intrinsically sweet, fruity, ashy, floral whisky. This really is fascinating, because it resembles "traditional" Glenfarclas in almost no way, shape, or form. Young, fragrant, divorced from sherry influence entirely, with a mild peat/smoke influence, I would never, ever have picked Glenfarclas in a blind tasting.
I had, until this outturn, sworn off non-sherried bottles of Glenfarclas, but it turns out that this is actually quite a good one. The addition of the smoke to all the chalk and citrus and fruit and nuts is a wonderful binding element and really works. Recommended.
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