Glenfarclas 1954 Family Casks S14 Butt #1259

Glenfarclas 1954 Family Casks S14 Butt

• Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
• Distillery Bottling

70cl / 46.7%

Firstly, A 1954 vintage Glenfarclas released as part of the distillery’s Summer 2014 releases of The Family Casks. Aged in plain butt 1259, this was bottled on 25 March 2014.

Colour: deep rosewood. Nose: hot strawberry jam, black coffee, burned nuts and also, underneath, a pretty heady mix of sawdust and pencil shavings. Some black grapes, wee hints of matchbox, rosemary and some pretty hefty meaty notes of Bovril and beef stock. With water: it’s funny how, even with this turbo charged sherry and high abv, it still develops in a kind of typical way with the addition of water. That is to say towards breads, golden syrups, sultanas, cinnamon and some rather intense herbal extracts.

Things like tarragon stems and something almost like gentian root and dry earth. Mouth: as the nose would suggest this is a more aggressive style. Hot sandalwood, BBQ briquettes, pencil shavings, clove oil, liquorice, mint liqueur, cherry syrup and even some irn bru sweeties. Lots of black tea, bitter chocolate, strong espresso and pomegranate molasses. Pot pourri and grapefruit pith as well. Pretty intense stuff! With water: again the development is pretty typical. Glenfarclas 1954 Family Casks S14 Butt #1259

Further, All roasted nuts, seeds, fruit cake, dates, prune eau de vie and cherry kirsch. Still some rather persistent tannins and pencil shaving notes nibbling around the edges. Finish: long but slightly on the bitter side, as expected. Some pretty dark chocolate, black tea, bitter herbal extracts and soot. Comments: Pleasure and pain in various interchanging measures. Another one that will delight sherry heads, but, for this wee taster, I’m afraid it just lacks a bit of balance. Also, I really think you can feel the difference between these younger, modern seasoned ‘sherry’ casks. Not that this is a bad one, just you feel the activity of the wood quite profoundly