Introduction
MoM Movember Glenfarclas
We interupt this not so regularly scheduled blog to bring you an exciting breaking development in the whisky world. Well, it’s a breaking development for me, anyway. This weekend, I received a surprise sample in the mail from the folks at Master of Malt. It was the new Movember bottling – an expression produced by a partnership between Glenfarclas and Master of Malt. According to the literature I received, this is a vatting of two Oloroso sherry hogshead casks, matured for 9 years. 10 casks were picked out by George Grant, Sales Director at Glenfarclas, with the final two casks chosen by Master of Malt. It’s bottled at 53%.
For every Movember bottling sold at £39.95, £10.00 will be donated to Movember. Sounds great, but how is the whisky?
Tasting Notes
Glenfarclas – Movember 2011; 53%; £39.95
Nose: Super clean sherry in the form of ripe red fruits. Just amazingly juicy, with a little bit of cooking spice, a hint of oak, and no sign of sulfur. Wow! Palate: Still juicy, and also fairly sweet, with a pretty big impact at first, but dropping off to more of a medium impact by mid-palate. The alcohol is well controlled, with no need to water it down. Finish: The red fruits continue right on through to the end, lingering for a medium duration in the back of the nostrils. It’s sweet with a little oak spice on the tongue. However, the taste drops off fairly quickly, leaving just a hint of oak to go with the fruit in the nostrils.Comments:
I could sit with a glass of this and take in the aromas all night long! Sure, the finish could be a little bigger, but that doesn’t spoil the overall experience. The amazingly clean, juicy nose reminds me of my favorite Aberlour a’bunadh batches (#23 and #26). It’s a little more fruity and a little less oaky than those two, and the finish is bigger on the Aberlours, but oh, that clean sherry nose! It’s a refreshing change from the heavier Macallan-like nose often found in big sherry whiskies. I’m very comfortable giving this a personal rating in the 88-89 range. A solid B+.
Conclusion
If you love a big sherry, fruity nose on your whisky, you should enjoy this young Glenfarclas. If strong impact from palate through finish is all that matters to you, it’s possible you’ll be left wanting for more. For me, a sherry nose this clean is hard enough to find that I want to grab onto a bottling like the Movember Glenfarclas when I get the chance. After prying my nose away from the glass, following my first taste of this sample, I jumped on my laptop and ordered two bottles. I’m putting my money (well, credit card and ensuing interest charges) where my mouth is on this one.
Cheers, Jeff
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