Glenfarclas

After posting about whisky for over five years -- yes, MannyMontaigne is over five years old -- it’s always fun to write about something new. Or more accurately, something old, that we are posting about for the very first time. In this case, it’s Glenfarclas, and old school Speyside malt, which for some reason doesn’t seem to get the respect it deserves.

This posting originated when John recently visited Federal Wine and Spirits in Boston. One can’t visit Federal without talking whisky with Joe Howell, and during their recent conversation, Joe told John that he thought Glenfarclas was a vastly underrated malt-- that especially with the higher age statements, one could acquire a great bottle of whisky at less than half the cost of many better known labels. And although I trust Joe’s advice, and don’t ever recall being steered wrong by him, just for the hell of it, I checked out Michael Jackson to see what the great whisky critic thought. And I learned that Jackson and Joe are of like minds. Jackson gives good reviews to most Glenfarclas. He claims it’s the most independent of all scotch distilleries, independently owned, unaffiliated with any other distillery or distributors, and also family owned for the past 150 years.

So last week, when I was driving from Andover north to Portland, to visit G-Man, I stopped at the New Hampshire liquor store, where, apparently in celebration of the holidays, much of the whisky was being given away for next to nothing. I picked up a bottle of Glenfarclas 12 for only $31, tax included.

First of all, the Glenfarclas packaging tells you that this malt will have to stand or fall on its merits, because no one is going to pick up a bottle because of its clever marketing. The case for the bottle is as unattractive a blue color as one could possibly find. Ugly. The shape of the bottle, and the design of the label look like they haven’t been changed for fifty years. I can’t attest to that, obviously, but something tells me that the distillery didn’t hire any clever marketing firm to design an old school look for this malt. Instead, it just is old school.

When G-Man and I tasted the whisky in Portland, we compared it to a sixteen year old Longmorn, and didn’t find the flavor as rich, nor the finish quite as long. But having retasted it back home a couple times now, I think that was an unfair comparison. The twelve year old is uncomplicated malt whisky. It’s not finished in any wine barrels, and doesn’t have any of the sweet characteristics of the malts that are aged in, for example, sherry casks. Instead, it has a clean but robust malt flavor. Jackson thinks there’s a hint of peat in there, but I can’t find it. It reminds me of the fine oak Macallans, where one tastes whisky, and only whisky. And although I think I’d prefer to try a Glenfarclas that had spent a few more years in the barrel, and rounded out somewhat, I think that this is a very drinkable malt, and a particularly good value at this crazy price New Hampshire is currently asking. Nice long finish for a twelve year old too.

There are a number of very nice highland malts that are making their presence known these days. (For example, we have yet to post much about one of John’s recent favorites, Benromach.) And that’s good news for whisky lovers, because even as the eighteen year old prices are climbing into the stratosphere, probably because of the Asian market, the tens and twelves have stayed very moderately priced. And, just as Joe says, it would be very hard to find more whisky for the money that this old school Glenfarclas.