Scotch Review #60: Glenfarclas 105 Cask Strength

Distillery: Glenfarclas

Region: Speyside

ABV: 60%

Age: NAS

Price: On sale at $80

Color: 0.8, Deep Gold. Un-chillfiltered and no color added.

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Nose (according to the wife): Fresh celery, candle wax, and rubbing alcohol. Definitely a strange nose and not particularly enjoyable. I didn’t add any water when she sniffed this, perhaps that was needed.

Palate: At 60% ABV, it’s the strongest scotch I’ve ever had…and you can feel it. It has one heck of a kick. Glenfarclas is known for their sherry bombs and this one might as well be the Tsar Bomba of them. The sherry is right in your face the entire way along with some silky vanilla, orange zest, and dried strawberries to help it along. You also get a mouth full of oak spices when had neat, almost too much as it makes the dram pretty hot. A bit of water/ice is absolutely needed to temper the heat and it brings out the lovely fruity notes as well.

Finish: Long. There’s some earthy notes in tobacco, leather, and some cocoa powder along with some more oak spice.

Conclusion: Glenfarclas 105 was my introduction to cask strength whiskies a few years ago. It was a bit of a shock to me after exclusively having low ABV whiskies like the standard Macallan or Glenmorangie offerings. I have to say this was almost a gateway drug for me, it got me started down the path of trying more and more whiskies rather than sticking to the basics. Coming back to this, it’s as much of a sherry bomb as I remember. Vanilla, fruit, sherry, what more can you ask for? In the case of this scotch, I would ask for a better nose as it’s terrible. Other than that? Still enjoy it and I’ll love to keep a bottle around for those days when I just want to have a mouth full of sherry.

Final Score: 83.

Scotch whisky review #60, Speyside review #27, Whisky Network Review #80

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.