Side by side: Christmas Sherry Teenagers

Rather than review drams by themselves I'm doing a little series comparing some 'side by side'.

There may be two or more, they may be from the same or different distilleries, similar ages, ABVs and types or not as I decide!

This time we are reviewing two teenage sherried drams ideal for Christmas Glenfarclas 15yo and Douglas Laing's Scallywag 13yo what differences are there?

Dram	Glenfarclas 15yo	DL Scallywag 13yo
Characteristics	46% ABV, Non-coloured, NCF	46% ABV, Non-coloured, NCF
Distillery info	Nose: Complex sherried, light butterscotch aromas, with a hint of dried fruit. Palate: Full bodies with a superb balance of sherried sweetness and malty tones. Finish: Long lasting, gloriously sherried, sweet and distinguished.	13 Years Old Speyside Malt Scotch Whisky is a limited edition “big brother” to the original Scallywag and is the first Scallywag bottling to carry an age statement. Matured exclusively in Sherry Butts. Nose: big, dark, distinctly sherried, raisin-y with home-baked fruitcake and molasses to the fore. Palate: the sweet dark sherry opens, then detect late vanilla, nutmeg and ginger mixing with rich cereal tones. Finish: spiced offering a long and wagging tail-end of mocha.
My thoughts:
Appearance	Lovely dark gold colour... swirls lead to slow thin legs tears.	Brown gold gold colour... swirls lead to slow thin legs.
Nose	Strawberry jam, dried fruit.	Dark cherries, dates, dried fruit
Palate	Honey, sherry, strawberry jam and dried fruit from the nose	Dark sherry slightly drying, toffee, spicy ginger
Finish	Medium and warming, a little spice bite.	Long spicy and warming.
Overall	Both were lovely sherry drams, but the taste of Christmas - I'm not sure - the Scallywag probably meets the criteria - there's loads of dark fruit and sherry notes. I paired both of these with some homemade Christmas cake and this enhanced the flavours of both. For me if you want a lovely sherried dram at a reasonable ABV (rather than Cask Strength A'Bunadh) either of these will fit the bill but for me the Scallywag takes it by a (dog's) neck!