Royal Brackla 16 year

After exploring a trio from South Africa, our Bombay Malt & Cigar evening closed on a classic note. Whilst I thoroughly enjoy exploring whisky experiments and drams from many lands, there is simply nothing like a good classic Scottish single malt.

Knowing this, our whisky host added two well-known standards:

Royal Brackla 16 year and
A new batch strength Glen Grant 15 year expression

Both were Original Bottlings… Both true treats!

What did we think?

Royal Brackla 16 year “The Cawdor Estate” 40%

Nose – Oh yes! Those lovely orchard fruits you can count on with a Royal Brackla! Crisp green apple, juicy with a drizzle of honey
Palate – Soft, well-rounded, fruity, enveloping one in a delicious warmth
Finish – Simply dripping with honey

Such a perfect classic, easy drinking dram.

Glen Grant 15 year Batch Strength 50%

Nose – Happiness! A delightful, sweet, and fruity aroma with lemony high notes, morphed into a delicious lemon custard, dessert in a glass! The more it opened, the more joyful it became! Ice cream sandwich, cookies and cream, malty biscuits, lemon sorbet with vodka!
Palate – Same vein as the nose, nicely rounded, a good mouth feel, very approachable for 50%, just enough kick to make it interesting
Finish – Lovely
Water – Just adds a bit of spice

What can one say? Really rather nice!

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After our miniatures trio, we decided to change things a little… and moved our attention to a Royal Brackla 16 year – simply as it was open and I’d never tried. Reason enough!

Royal Brackla is better known as a component in Dewar’s or Johnnie Walker… however like many whiskies is now stepping out of the blend shadows to show off its single malt avatar to the world.

This was my 1st encounter… and what did we find?

Royal Brackla 16 year 40%

Nose – Balsa wood, a bit dry, then shifts into wet forest, mushrooms, whiff of being on an old boat with a bit salty mouldy moisture. After time takes on a light banana cream pie,
Palate – Smooth, ginger spice, almost like a tic tac freshness
Finish – Not much to speak of…

Overall? It was initially difficult to get past the ‘watered down’ sense that comes with many 40% whiskies. There also is certainly nothing particularly ‘regal’ about this whisky….

However when the tantalizing aromas of food wafted our way and we could resist no longer… we made a terrific discovery. This was a food whisky – something easy to drink that goes well with nibbles.

Our conclusion? Put it in the category of “bar and food whisky.”

And there is certainly space enough out there for such dramsl!

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