Glenfarclas 25

[dcb]

Picked this us yesterday for just under $100 and opened it right away. I've previously not been a huge fan of overly sherried whiskies like Macallan, but I tried the 'farclas 12 and liked it quite a bit, so I figured the price was hard to pass up on the 25. Very nice first impressions, I'll be having some more tonight. Not a writer of tasting notes, but it was delicious and balanced, not as sweet as I think I was expecting. I mostly drink Islays but this is a very tasty pour. And humble packaging as well, just a cardboard tube with no fancy inserts or anything else.

The Mac 25 sells for a whopping $600, 6x as much, has anyone had both of these? How do they compare? This is the most I've spent on a single bottle and I feel like I've definitely gotten my money's worth. $600 for a 25yr, sounds ludicrous to me now that I've opened the GF. Opinions?
cheers.

[Secesh]

I went through a bottle of the 25 fairly quickly, at least for me. I loved it. I've tried the Mac 25 once and wasn't blown away by it. It was good, but you're paying quite a bit just for the name it seems to me. I'll take 2 bottles of Glenfarclas 25 and with the left over $ buy a couple of nice Islays.

[SoMK]

but it was delicious and balanced, not as sweet as I think I was expecting.

I have a huge soft spot for GF 25 as well. It isn't as "speysider sweet" as I expected as well but rather deliciously oaky. I think it's an atypical GF and one I'm glad to always have a bottle sitting around somewhere.

[Ganga]

I've had several different Macallan 25s bottled at various times in the 90s up to about 2002. They are spectacular but I love sherried whiskies. I would also note that a fresh bottle isn't quite as good as one that has been open for awhile.

I have also had the Glenfarclas 25 from several different years too, including a very recent one. The tall bottle from the 90s was very different from the rest of the Farclas line. It was very nutty and full of caramel. The more recent bottles of the Farclas are much more in-line with the rest of the bottlings in that they have more of an herbal base with some anise or fennel on the palate.

I don't agree with the current pricing of the Macallan 25 $450ish but it is still a very fine beverage. The Glenfarclas 25 is currently available to me for $130ish. At this price difference it is easy to select the Glenfarclas but if the Macallan was $250-300, I'll take that.

[borgom]

Haven't tried the Macallan 25yo myself (because it's too expensive) but I also really enjoyed the Glenfarclas 25yo.
If you haven't done so already I'd suggest trying the 21yo, it's my favourite 'farclas and of course is cheaper too

[Sherried Malt]

I've just had the Mac 25 once. A guy at a conference insisted on my trying it. He was going on and on how much better the 25 was vs. the 18, but he came across as a bit of a poseur who liked to hear himself talk...

That said, it was very good.

Never had the Farclas 25 tho.

[Wave]

I find that the 'farclas 25 is a little too woody for my tastes. The 21yo is (so far) my favorite, but I have a couple 31yo '74's of which I'm planning to open 1 of next month. As much of good things I've heard and read of this bottling it may well become my new favorite Glenfarclas!

Cheers!

[peergynt323]

I was just talking to Ganga about the Farclas 25 vs. the Mac 25. I distinctly remember the farclas 25 outperforming an independent 30-something year old bottling by Beltramos. It truly is an outstanding beverage and for $130, how can you go wrong?

The Mac 25 is amazing, but at over $400 it's tough to rationalize. Brora 30yo, Laphroaig 30yo, Lagavulin 21yo, and all sorts of other phenomenal bottlings are much much cheaper.

[Red_Arremer]

I'm with you Wave. The 25 is too woody. The 21, however, is an excellent, well balanced, old school dram, and it's well priced.

As far as sherry and Macallan comparisons go: I've tasted Glenfarclas' whole regular line (except for the 15, which is unavailable in the US) and besides the 105 c/s I find the sherry pretty low-key. Low key relative to Macallan, Aberlour, ect., that is. I'm not generally a fan of monster-sherry, but if I were I would stick to their very nice, and pretty inexpensive for a cask strength, heavily sherried 105 c/s or look somewhere else. On a whole different level of quality, the expensive and, in some areas, hard to find 1974 vintage c/s is also heavily sherried.

[Muskrat Portage]

Nice, but we allpreferred the 15 tonight. It was the top candidate of the 19 SM thatwe tasted tonight, including a batch of Aberlour A'Bunadh's.

Musky

[Muskrat Portage]

I posted the previous note on the hosts' laptop last night just after the tasting ended. The 25 was quite nice and in a surprising turn I was gifted with the bottle at the end of the evening. Stunning generosity at which I am still in awe.

Here's an excerpt from my tasting notes last night:

Glenfarclas 25 yo

Colour: Pale gold with reddish hints
Nose: Tangerine, orangery
Body: Long legged with fishnet stockings and stilettos.
Palate: Prickly on the tongue caused me personally to drool in response, yummy.
Finish: Toffee, spicy, honey long mostly spicy finish.
Gallery comment: Mighty spicy.

I did enjoy it although the top candidate for the entire evening was the Glenfarclas 15 yo, which I now have to hunt for.

Muskrat Portage

[peergynt323]

As I work my way though my Glenfarclas 25yo, it seems very different than the one I tried at the WhiskyFest. It's a little heavy on the cinnamon and muted in a lot of other ways and the mid-palate is really lacking.

The one I tried at WhiskyFest was phenomenal and outperformed a 30+ year old farclas.