Glenfarclas 21yo
Official Bottling | 43% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
Good - but at the old prices
Dusty hunting: A hidden hobby
Stale air. Second-hand cigarette smoke despite indoor smoking being banned some 20 years ago. Dim lighting barely illuminating dust-laden shelves. Worn floor tiles. Squeaky refrigerator fan. Yellowed fibreglass ceiling tiles. Inattentive 18 year old checkout attendant scrolling mindlessly on their phone. Faded and curling vodka posters haphazardly staked to the walls.
Stacks of bottom shelf, cheap beer haphazardly strewn by the front door serves the purpose of selling directly to the local after work foot traffic but providing a tripping hazard if you wish to venture deeper into the dank bowels of the store. Glowing neon beer cooler signs. Finally, tilting my head like a pup listening to a strange sound, I spied a very misaligned and tilted “whisky” sign. Ah-ha, now I know where I’m headed.
What was I doing here? Well I was “dusty” hunting; panning for gold, looking for Pandora’s box, or other esoteric images of adventure that suits your fancy. But for me, dusty hunting is a small part of my whisky world and is something I recommend everyone does. Having trouble finding a specific bottle or distillery, especially if the large liquor stores with massive ecommerce online selling platforms are trounced by purchasing bots before you can hit purchase on your next break? Then dusty hunting is for you.
These brick-and-mortar, sometimes hole-in-the-wall liquor stores that have zero online sales presence, can often house hidden treasures. This is a key factor in identifying potential stores that may have some dusty bottles sitting on the shelves. The store owners generally don’t bring in large volumes of whisky, so the selection isn’t always going to be huge. However, the upside is the owners generally bring in a few cases of some interesting items but their regular customers don’t immediately purchase these whiskies due to preference or economic factors. Couple that with a potential lack of knowledge of today’s whisky prices by the owners, and you can find a dusty bottle hiding on the shelf at its original price. Travelling for work? Running some errands? Dropped the kids off at football practice and have 30 minutes to kill? Then dusty hunting might just become a small favourite hobby for you too.
As it turns out for this Glenfarclas 21yo, I was passing by the previously described store and popped in for five minutes before continuing on my merry way. I’d never gone in the store before nor will I likely be back. Their selection was incredibly poor and didn’t have anything exciting, with the exception of a wee Glenfarclas tin sitting on the top shelf, a healthy coating of the finest quality dust residing on top. Bringing it forward, I was very surprised it was a 21, especially given the price label affixed to the shelf. I was expecting the 15yo or 17yo for that price and would have likely pushed those back however it was my lucky day.
Popping the lid off the tin and pulling out the bottle to check if anyone did a bait-and-switch, it actually was a 21yo. Using my phone to shine some light on the date code in the dim light, I was pleasantly surprised to see it was a 2017 bottle and the seal was in good condition. Much in the same way as Indiana Jones sniped the golden fertility statue in Raiders of the Lost Ark, I tucked the tin under my arm, paid the 2017 price, and peeled out of there as fast as I could.
I’ve hunted many other bottles over the years in a similar manner. I would wager I’m successful in finding something old, unique, or priced well about half of the time so that’s pretty good odds for a minor hobby. In general, I’ve found less and less hidden gems over the past few years but I would bet that’s partially due to me being more picky or having similar bottles of a particular whisky already. The other factor in reducing my hit rates is likely down to other dusty hunters snatching up these gems as whisky is becoming more popular and bargain hunting is becoming a necessity with the upwards trajectory of global whisky pricing.
I have a brief ask here: after reading my thoughts on the Glenfarclas 21, please leave a comment if you’ve stumbled on to a stash of dusty bottles and snagged something you liked.
Review
Glenfarclas 21yo, Official ‘Dusty’ bottle find, 2017 bottling, 43% ABV
CAD$130 paid / £80 (current price £150)
Nose
Stewed white-fleshed and stone fruit pie. Raisin butter tart. Wood tannins are presenting similar to aniseed, blackcurrant, and white pepper.Chocolate-like notes, like a dark chocolate filled croissant. It does change with time in the glass so give it some air time. For a period of a minute or two, I even detected some spearmint gum. It also smells syrupy, if that’s a thing, but is more likely coming from the fruit pie or butter tart filling notes.
Palate
Raisin butter tarts, pecan pie and a touch of milk chocolate alongside a boozy dark rum-soaked date cake. Throughout, a well-balanced savoury note of cinnamon laced streusel. Very minimal touch of a high-quality light roast coffee.
It has a gentle round mouthfeel that has a moderate amount of barrel tannins, presenting as a slightly cheek drying and a pinch of black pepper and cinnamon.
The finish is medium-long and is a lovely slow decline of cinnamon and raisin butter tarts.
The Dregs
For fun, I dug into my stash of personal sample bottles for a circa-2020 Glenfarclas 15 yo. While Aengus has reviewed a 2021 edition of the 15yo and awarded it a 4/10, my bottle and sample appears to be much more balanced (probably a 6/10 for the $80CAD I paid for mine, definitely a 5/10 at the current crazy prices) however it’s significantly “hotter” and heavier on barrel tannin spiciness than the 21yo.
I much prefer my 2017 batch of the 21 yo. It’s rounder, full-bodied, and a very easy drinking dram. It has just the right amount of tannin bite for my preferences, however some could easily label this as being over oaked if they’re used to the low-tannin American oak. I would wager there’s a decent proportion of European oak here, and in other Glenfarclas bottles like the 15yo, owing to the elevated tannins. I poured myself a 2001 AnCnoc, a bottle I keep around for the purpose of comparing tannin levels, and it’s very similar, qualitatively confirming my suspicions of a heavy proportion of European oak used in the mix here.
This whisky is so easy drinking that the bottle level is rapidly dropping now that I’ve dug it out of storage to write this review. I’d been hiding it away from my prying eyes and greedy fingers but now that I’ve cracked it again, it’s been moved from the back shelves to the bar tabletop, begging me to splash a dram after my evening chores. Will I replace it on the shelf at current market prices? When the last few drops are coaxed from this bottle, I won’t be replacing it unless I can find another dusty hiding on a shelf.
PS: it wouldn’t be a Broddy review without commenting on the flavour vs. price balance so how would I score it at today’s price? Probably a 5/10. It’s good and has a lengthy finish, but the price increase of late has simply pushed it out of my reach for the experience, a struggle that I’m sure you are experiencing as well.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. BB
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