Tasting 5 NDS Speysiders, some of the from Glenfarclas?

NDS? No Distillery Statement... All of these are IB's from The Master of Malt. If anyone has any information from which distillery these single malts are from, I'd love to hear it. I'm pretty sure one of them is a Glenfarclas.






Premier Select 11yo 43% Master of Malt Speyside Single Malt

There's 3 Premier Select bottles in this session, they may not even come from the same distillery, but lets try and see if there's similarities enough to make such assumption. The color on this one is light golden. It smells of wheat, white pepper, cream, biscuits, gin, apple juice, reminds me much of gin on the nose, not too pleasant, perhaps I'll save a sip and add some tonic later...Gets more austere and peppery after awhile. The taste is light, pleasant, rum, biscuits, honey glaze, ginger, white wine, fresh, sugar peas and grapefruit, nice one. If I were to guess, this one reminds me a bit of a young Glendullan.

A good whisky, better on the palate than on the nose however: 6


Blairfindy 15yo 43% Master of Malt

The label states it comes from a family owned distillery, so I guess that more than hints to be a Glenfarclas. From a sherry cask. The color is deep red/orange. It smells of heavy sherry, drying, phenolic, peppery, chillies, grassy, minty, minerals, oaky, dark chocolate. The taste is burnt, phenolic, dry, needs water. With a small addition of water and a lot of breathing it becomes burnt, peppery, drying, phenolic, grassy, not that full and rich Glenfarclas profile in this one, but it has a lot of sherry notes.

If this was at higher strength, I think it could be a winner: 4


Premier Select 21yo 46% Master of Malt Speyside Single Malt

10 years older, a bit stronger, should be a great whisky if the 11yo is to go by. Dark orange/brown color. It smells of cinnamon, black pepper, red bell peppers, sweet, sun-dried tomatoes, dried fruits, phenolic, ginger. Quite a sherry treat. The taste is sweet, rich, cinnamon, dark grapes, dark berries, cherries. The finish is all on black pepper, licorice, heather, gingerbread and honey. Water makes it a bit sweeter and more honeyed, even some stewed, caramelized onions.

Simply a great whisky, could very well be a Glenfarclas: 7


Premier Select 11yo 58.6% Master of Malt Speyside Single Malt

This one is bottled at cask strength. If it is the same quality as the 11yo 43%, I'll think this could be an absolute winner in my book. The color is golden. It smells of heavy spirit and spices, a certain bitterness, krauterlikör. The taste is drying, herbal, yeasty, dry, a bit like fino sherry, licorice, cinnamon, orange zest, definitively from another sherry cask, and it has some similarities to the 21yo Glenfarclas to be honest.

Nice whisky, at this age and price its an absolute scoop: 6


Select Cask 12yo 1980-1993 58.6% The Master of Malt cask#10665

A CS at the same strength as the Premier Select CS. One year older though. Let's hope this was the superior predecessor of the current Premier Select CS. A bit dirty is this one, quite some cask sediments. The color is golden brown. It smells hot, peppery, chillies, honey, smoked, not peaty, just that old cigar stench, sweet, onions, sugary, syrup. Great! The taste is peppery, olive oil, whipped cream, dry licorice, peaty(!), honey, onions, sherried, I'd say this sure could be a Glenfarclas, smooth and creamy sherry notes. I must say this is one of the best bottlings I've had from Master of Malt.

Great stuff, sherry monster with some peat: 7.5



Next tasting: Allt-á-Bhainne Distillery