Tasting 4 Royal Brackla's, postponing Blair Athol

Instead of Blair Athol I'll have some Royal Brackla tonight. I got that idea when watching the movie The Angels Share earlier today. And at a tasting in the movie, held by Rory MacAllister, they tasted 4 whiskies. So 4 Royal Bracklas instead of 5 Blair Athols then. Am I a brilliant genius or what?!? ;-)



Royal Brackla 25yo 1974-1999 40% Connoisseurs Choice Gordon & Macphail

The oldest one in this session. Bottled back when the CC-series was at 40%abv, nowadays its up at 46%abv. Dark golden color, caramel added as well? It smells fruity, tropical fruits, kiwi, melons, hay, oaky, smoky, grainy, musty, rustic notes and also some metallic notes. The taste is light, sweet, bitter, waxy, honey, mineral and metallic, fish oil, fresh, mint leaves and heather. I must say I'm impressed, one of the better late 40%abv bottlings in the CC-series, I usually find the diamonds in older bottled rough from G&M.

If you want to try a great Royal Brackla, why not this one: 7.5


Royal Brackla 13yo 1991-2004 46% Connoisseurs Choice Gordon & Macphail

So, a much younger from same series, but bottled with higher strength. I know comparing these two might not be fair as one is almost twice as old as the other, but if my instincts are right, going from 40% to 46%abv could make up for just that. Golden color. It smells peppery, dark berries, herbal, onions, fresh, thyme, mint leaves, grassy. Light whisky, but the initial peppery notes vanishes very quickly. The taste is red wine, drying, wool, vodka, this one calls for some water. Now it turns sweeter, lighter, musty, old rug, leather, now it has gone all weird.

Unchallenging, undemanding and uninteresting, this should go to blending: 3


Royal Brackla 11yo 1992-2004 58.8% Cadenhead's

Almost same age and vintage as the 13yo, hopefully will excel on being bottled at CS. The color is golden. It smells of gunpowder, ammonium, peppermints, salmi, cough drops, halls lozenges, very fresh if you ask me. The taste is sweet and peppery, creamy, cashew nuts, grassy, banana leaves, orange zest, marshmallows. Sweet and light! The finish is long and peppery. Water makes this one even more peppery!

Fun stuff, but seems Royal Brackla needs some age to really be on top: 5


Royal Brackla 12yo 64.5% James MacArthur's

From the Fine Malt Selection range. Many good ones have come from that. I have the opinion that if one can easily address the company's quality evaluation of a whisky in what series its bottled in, such as with Signatory, Duncan Taylor, Douglas Laing and many other, one loses the fun in finding a good bottle. What I like about J McA, Murray McDavid, G&m (to a certain point, and maybe some others is that one can find great whisky at low prices as long as one is aware of cask references and vintages. "You get what you pay for" seems to be a term that is used widely in wine industry, but now seems to be just as real on the whisky market. But I have no idea what this thunderous whisky at 64.5% will be like. Golden color. It smells spirity, peppery, mostly spirity actually. For fun I'll try this one bare, but I'm afraid it'll somehow ruin my tastebuds for awhile. The taste is burnt, spirity, licorice, lime zest, needs some water as its now more spirity than what I imagined. With water it becomes lighter, bitter, more orange zest and lemon zest. Very bitter stuff, a whisky that really needs a lot of work to be worth its while.

Too spirity, burnt and bitter: 3



Next tasting: Glenfarclas Distillery (Possibly Glenfarclas Distillery)