Glenfarclas 2012 vs 1961


December 21, 2022


The Time Warp Sessions, today Glenfarclas 2012 vs 1961 That's sixty years apart! We'll see if we find any autumn leaves in either of these... (Very lovely wee magazine ad, circa 1968. They should run these again, it's all going retro and 'analog' everywhere anyway. And stunning font!)

Glenfarclas 10 yo 2012/2022 (60.9%, OB, Family Casks, for LMDW, Collection Antipodes, sherry hogshead, cask #2584, 300 bottles)

Colour: deep gold. Nose: ultra-classic sherry, with cherries and stewed coriander, walnuts, flints, marmalade, kumquats, mashed potatoes (I know that's not 'classic' but it's there), whiffs of wisteria, then raisin rolls and apricot cake. Danishes. With water: earth, cherries and marzipan, very nice combo. Mouth (neat): rich sherry, eminently and epitomically (that'll do, S.) Glenfarclas, with this faint rusticity fuelled by chocolate and marmalade, with a leathery, leafy touch. With water: Mon Chéri. Right, chocolate and kirschwasser. Finish: rather long, rather fat, kirschy, chocolaty, with some rhum agricole in the aftertaste, a floral side, molasses, coconut, bananas flambéed, cane syrup… well it's almost got a second life. I would suppose that was the oak. Comments: excellent young Glenfarclas. The Distillery almost always excels in this game.
SGP:661 - 87 points.

Glenfarclas 1961 'Nineteen Sixty-One' (43%, OB, USA, 750ml, 2500 bottles, +/-2005?)

Another 1961 bearing the same label, bottled for Germany, is high in my book (WF 91). Colour: reddish amber. Nose: I understand why this baby's got a reputation, as you would almost believe it is Laphroaig. Seriously! Bandages, tiger balm, iodine, seawater, lemon balm, stewed mangos and papayas... But naturally, it would then diverge and move towards 'that beehive', honeys of all origins, sweet meats, apple and quince pies, raisins and crystallised tangerines… all that before a wonderful sherry, full of walnuts and tobacco, would come to the front. Rather extraordinary and you wouldn't even notice the lower strength. Mouth: a notch drying at first (walnut stain, chocolate), but soon to become wonderfully jammy, given that all fruits used were pretty tannic, such as cassis, blackberries, wee apples, pomegranates… Other than that, we have classic fruitcake, raisins, figs, plus spices from the oak (nutmeg and cinnamon) and a touch of cedarwood. Really starts to resemble that other famous Distillery in Speyside, the one that starts with an M; yes I know there are several of them. Finish: pretty long, more on coffee and raisins, and with prunes and old brandy in the aftertaste. Comments: sublime sherry integration, and probably the best bottled coffee ever made by man.
SGP:651 - 93 points.

Check the index of all Glenfarclas we've tasted so far