CNY Drink 1

It's been yet another long hiatus. I have a bit of a personal principle to not drink when stressed, so that I don't accidentally get myself hooked on alcohol as a destressant (that's not a word, I know). The downside is that this blog moves slowly, and then often in spurts. But it's been a loooong weekend with the Lunar New Year break, so here's the first new dram in a long time.

Looks like I won't be breaking last year's record of 14 new drams in 15 days of CNY.

CO went over to the Metropole for a bit of training, and very kindly popped by Whisky Exchange's store to get me a Glenfarclas sample gift set. Many thanks! This set contains three whiskies - the 15 year old, the 21, and the 25. Of course, we're starting with the youngest of the three.

Glenfarclas 15 (46% abv)

Colour - golden.

Nose - Spicy, on cinnamon, cloves, a touch of something herbaceous, like rosemary. Apples. Malty and a bit of oak. There's some liquorice, as well as a little bit of peanut oil. A light hint of something smoky and fishy...kelp? That's strange...There's that sherry we've come to expect, but it's a little muted. Some vanilla cream. This isn't a sherry bomb. Just a normal, sherried whisky, with a strange twist.

Palate - Fruity. Grapes. Apples are still here, but it's now the part of the apple that's closer to the core. A little more acidic, a little less bright and sweet. A hint of acidic, black coffee. The Singaporean Kopi-O variety. A bit of ginger and pepper. A faint, faint whiff of smoke. The sherry influence is more present in the fruity, grapey flavour, then in velvety smoothness. The creamy vanilla comes in after 10 minutes to give a bit more roundness to this.

Finish - Oooh. Big burst of raisins on the way down. After that, there's a bit of a peppery feel, slightly bitter too. Hmm. Wood tannins lingers all over on the inside. Fairly drying. The finish isn't very long, but the dryness stays for quite a bit.

Overall - This is fairly nice, but it stings a little - maybe, at 46%, it required a little more time in the wood. But then, if it did, it won't be a 15 year old anymore, would it? Perhaps the blenders ran out of older stock to even it out. But if they did, this won't be as affordable anymore either. So, pretty decent, on balance. Nothing to shout about, but a competent dram to sip away. I actually do like it, and don't really mind the sting, though the bit of bitterness (is it artificial caramel??) detracts from the overall enjoyment.