Coldorak's whisky blog.
On the menu today are a Ballindaloch and some indy Glenfarclas. What is the link between those? Most whisky lovers know Glenfarclas, Ballindalloch’s famous distillery. Some may also recognise Cragganmore. Fewer people realise that Ballindalloch hosts a third distillery: the Ballindalloch Distillery itself. Today, let’s try a single cask from Ballindalloch—the first I’ve managed to get hold of—and compare it with a few Glenfarclas expressions as benchmarks.
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Birthdays are the perfect occasion to dip into something truly special, and what could be more fitting than marking the day with a lineup of extraordinary drams? For this year’s celebration, I decided to indulge with three remarkable Glenfarclas Family Casks spanning decades of craftsmanship: a 1979 (the year I was born), a 1967, and a venerable 1957. Each of these whiskies represents a unique chapter in Glenfarclas’s rich history, promising an unforgettable journey through time in a glass. Join me as I talk about first fills and refill casks, and as I toast to another year less young – and closing to the age of those 1967 and 1957 – with these Glenfarclas Family Casks 1979, 1967 & 1957 treasures.
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Don’t judge a book by its cover. This famous adage is so often verified, in the normal life as well as in whisky. This metaphorical phrase means one should not judge the worth or value of something by its outward appearance alone. For a bottle of whisky, because well, that’s the only thing that matters in this humble blog, the outward appearance can be many things. The colour of the liquid, the packaging, the label, the shape of the bottle, its embossing, or the label’s embossing. And in a way, even the name and the price. All these elements can influence your opinion about a whisky before having even nosed it and had any drop pass your lips. Whisky makers, be it distilleries, bottlers, blenders, all know that, and for many of them, the marketing departments run full steam in order to find the perfect combination. They hope that the untrained whisky drinker might judge positively a bottle he or she is yet to try, and then loosens the purse strings in order to acquire this bottle. If the bottle is beautiful, or its label, it might be good whisky, right? And that deep dark colour must mean it’s old or heavily sherried, right? Or a nice looking bottle, with a wooden box or any other expensive looking packaging might lead you to expect something as premium inside the bottle as it looks on the outside. Why am I talking about this? Well, read my review of this Glenfarclas 1971 All Malt Unblended and you’ll know.
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