Glen Grant 50 yo 1955 / 2005 Gordon &Macphail 40% vs Glenfarclas 50 yo issued 2015 41.1%
Glen Grant 50 yo 1955 / 2005 Gordon &Macphail 40%
Naturally an immense sherry component is evident though Glen Grant dons this heavy robe well. Thick jammy purples and rich blacks of preserved and macerated fruit. Whole cocoa blocks. Black tea, bitter medicinal barks and quinine, bags of liquorice and aniseed candy. Lots of wood follows: polished camphor, teak, old pine and pine resin. Inky cypriol and labdanum. Walnut oil, smoking wood at point of combustion and hint of bitumen. Lively on the tongue too but this is where loads of chinese medicinal herbs mixed with unsweetened cola veers towards the bitter and astringent. I might say overly so another person would think this perfect. 89 pts
Glenfarclas 50 yo issued 2015 41.1%
Oh thick and unctuous. How is this not a solid? Roasted chestnuts and creamy macadamia butter. Gamey with hung salami, dressed with lovage and oregano. It just smells of old things. Old wood and metal polishes, decades of carelessly spilt oil and sauces. Candied peel, waxed citrons and sugar persimmons in boxes. Musky like old leather well worn over sweaty skin. Would have preferred some vibrancy for better balance. Spilt coffee puddles, some rancio even. A parade of old old notes not experienced in younger whiskies. Increasingly gamey and musky like old cantaloupe. Ambles along at an octogenarian pace. 89 pts
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