A few independent Royal Brackla


September 5, 2024

A few independent Royal Brackla

That’s become better in order to get as close as possible to the distillate, no? However, note that people really like, for example, the official 12-year-old finished in sherry and so do I.

Wine in whisky: check the Leerdam theory below…

Royal Brackla 11 yo 2006/2018 (55.2%, North Star Spirits, refill bourbon hogshead, 296 bottles)

Colour: Chardonnay. Nose: Chardonnay indeed. Seriously, there's no wine in this wee dram (triple hooray!), but it comes across like a rather lovely white from the Côte de Beaune, with just the right amount of damp chalk, limestone, honeysuckle, apples, a wee touch of grapefruit, a smidgen of fresh butter and roasted hazelnuts... With water: slate and fresh wool join the party, which we rather enjoy. Mouth (neat): bright, taut, and almost aggressive with that herbaceous character and lemon peel, but we do like that. With water: white and yellow fruits now cheerfully spread across the palate, with white mulberries, white currants, then apple and just plain lemon. A very, very light saline tension in the background. Finish: long, very lively, and beautifully herbal. A couple of pine needles in the aftertaste. Comments: a very, very charming young Brackla, which didn’t need any sherry.
SGP: 461 - 85 points.

Couldn't one say that with malt whisky, the less wine there is in it, the more it resembles wine? It's a bit like the Dutch Leerdam theory, you know: the more cheese there is, the more holes there are, and the more holes there are, the less cheese there is. Right, anyway, let's move on…

Royal Brackla 15 yo 2008/2024 (54.9%, Lady of the Glen, refill barrel, cask #6787, 232 bottles)

Colour: Chardonnay. Here we go again. Nose: we're extremely close to the previous one. If we mixed the glasses on the table, we'd be hard-pressed to tell them apart this time around. That said, there’s a bit more sweetness here – think jelly babies, limoncello... But other than that, we’re in the same territory. With water: a bit of nail polish, pear, and yes, even a touch of Sprite (sorry!). Mouth (neat): even closer now. Chalk, gooseberries, lemon, green tea, white currants, orange pastilles, and just a tiny hint of honey. Really vibrant. With water: almost identical, perhaps with a tad more cereal and a sliver of underripe banana. Finish: long, a bit oilier than the 2006, but once again, we may be splitting hairs here. Comments: more like a Chardonnay from the Mâconnais. A young Pouilly, for example. Anyway, moving on…
SGP: 461 - 85 points.

Royal Brackla 2009/2023 (57.2%, Or Sileis, hogshead, cask #WG884, 280 bottles)

Colour: white wine. Here we go again. Nose: just the same. Gooseberries, chalk, fresh wool, lemon, white and green apples, honeysuckle, white wine, more gooseberries… With water: once again, we get some chalk, slate, grist, and muesli… It’s perfect. Mouth (neat): superb, fresh, lemony, vibrant, yet also quite fat (we used to say “as fat as a monk” in the old days), with rhubarb liqueur and limoncello. Nothing more to add, it’s excellent. With water: just like the others, really, though there’s perhaps a bit more yellow melon here. Finish: the same. Slightly fruitier, slightly less herbal. Comments: honestly, it's impossible to say if one is better than the others at this point, that would be total nonsense.
SGP: 551 – 85 points.

Royal Brackla 2008/2024 (50.5%, The Whisky Jury, 10 years of Wine4You, refill hogshead, cask #6784, 58 bottles)

That’s the entire outturn, as the cask has been leaking (sounds like a Tom Waits song, no?). Colour: white wine. Nose: I wouldn’t say you can smell the leakage, but it does come across as a bit fruitier, more tropical – bananas, oranges, and papayas, for instance. You really can’t help but notice that this is a style that suits The Whisky Jury, and frankly, it suits us too. With water: indeed, it’s a touch more aromatic than the others, leaning a bit more towards southern grape varieties rather than Chardonnay, if you prefer. Think Viognier, Manseng, Marsanne, and the like. Mouth (neat): once again, we’re close to the others. Muesli, grapefruit, white wine, chalk, rhubarb, limoncello, and all that. With water: acacia honey, honeysuckle (and herbal tea), orange, banana, pear, melon, papaya, and even a hint of mango. Finish: fairly long, fruity but less showy at this point, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Comments: an extra point for the mango.
SGP: 651 - 86 points.

It feels a bit like you could taste dozens of Bracklas of similar ages and ex-refills and end up with as many drams that are almost identical. This no doubt ‘may’ explain why the owners feel the ‘need’ to do some finishing – not necessarily because the whiskies are bad, but because otherwise they may all be... the same

Check the index of all Royal Brackla we've tasted so far