In 1835, King William IV visited Brackla distillery and was so taken by the spirit that he bestowed the ‘Royal’ status to the distillery. It became the first ever Scotch to garner a royal warrant, later followed by Lochnagar and Glenury.
The distillery is working with traditional production methods and aims for a high level of fruitiness by allowing the fermentation stage to take 80 hours or more and running the stills at a slow pace.
As part of the “Last great malts” campaign, its owners John Dewar & Sons have recently launched a new core range, which includes a 12 Year Old, 16 Year Old and 21 Year Old. After the initial maturation all spirit is finished in first-fill Oloroso casks.
Royal Brackla 12 yo
(40%, OB 2015)
Royal Brackla 12 yoNose: lots of grain cookies, muesli and plain malt. Apples, hints of vanilla cake and quite some nutty notes. Almonds and Macadamia nuts. Nicely rounded, but also relatively dry and therefore slightly unmodern, which is a good thing.
Mouth: light, with a tart apple / grape taste up front, followed by vanilla and some drier notes. Dusty grains, dark chocolate coated cookies. A touch of honey. Finally also sherry spices, mainly pepper.
Finish: not too long, still dry with mild spices and chocolate coated almond.
A decent entry-level malt. There are plenty of these of course, but it certainly makes me look forward to trying the older expressions. Around € 65.
Score: 81/100