Seeing as the last set of reviews were all Glenfarclas and the fact I talked about old and expensive whisky, it seemed fitting to add this on. They don’t come much older and more expensive than this…
This little gem was handed to me in the office the other day by Eddie. As I began to realise what had been presented to me the whisky geek inside me irrupted and I could hardly contain myself. This whisky was first distilled and filled into cask in 1953 and is an incredible 58 years old! It’s not every day a whisky of this calibre is handed to you and as a result I quickly squirreled it away into my rucksack.
This to date is the oldest and by far the most expensive whisky I have ever tried. A bottle of this 1953 ‘Farclas will set you back a cool six grand, which means for the price of this 5cl you could buy a full bottle of the 40yo I reviewed previously and still have change.
So excitement aside here’s how this bottling came into being.
Ever heard of a company called Wealth Solutions? Neither had I prior to this whisky. The company finds extremely rare, luxury and collectable items (including wine and art) Â for alternative investments for wealthy clients and in this case decided to add Scotch Whisky to their portfolio. A fine choice as whisky is one of the most investable consumable items on the planet.
The whisky itself is from one Spanish sherry cask, cask strength which at this grand old age is 47.2%. It’s natural colour, non-chillfilterd and was selected by an expert team of four. Serge Valentin from the acclaimed Malt Maniacs, Michael Kowalski from Wealth Solutions, Ben Ellessen from Master of Malt and George Grant from Glenfarclas. The team assessed the oldest maturing stocks at the distillery and unanimously decided on cask 1674 for the job of being the oldest release of Glenfarclas to date.
Just to put into perspective how old this whisky is here’s a few of the historical moments that occurred in 1953. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned Queen of England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland, Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin died and Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tenzig Norgay made the first successful ascent of Mount Everest. Yes indeed this cask was filled a very long time ago and to attribute a tasting note to such a significant whisky seems almost blasphemous! However, someone’s got to take a hit for the team, so it might as well be me.
Time to taste…
Glenfarclas 1953, 58yo, 47.2%
Nose
Incredible depth, and a real blast of oak fruit and spice. Like opening a wooden draw full of apricots, gingerbread, chocolate oranges and Crunchie bars on an old antique piece of furniture.
Palate
Rolls over your tongue and bursts with an incredible intensity, big hitting spice, juicy stewed fruit, sticky toffee pudding, apple flavoured boiled sweets and little flutters of coco right at the back of your tongue.
Finish
Clean and almost earthy, Flapjack, boiled sweets, golden syrup, oak, vanilla and spice in spades.
Overall
How a whisky of this age can be so clean on the palate and young in character is incredible. It’s not unusual to find a lot of really old whiskies to be overly woody and a bit overdone. However this isn’t the case here – in fact its almost the opposite – its really lively and spritely. This whisky is really quite and unlike anything I’ve ever tried before. The complexity is truly unbelievable with almost limitless flavour. This release is one of only 400 bottles and is exclusive to Master of Malt. Whoever decides to open one of those bottles will in my opinion, regardless of the price, enjoy one of the most amazing and remarkable whiskies in the world. Hopefully one or two will open it and not just put it in the cabinet…
Summary
Glenfarclas 1958, 58yo, £5995, 400 bottles, only available at www.masterofmalt.com
Until next time!
Cheers,
Joe
