Quite a while ago I received a few Hunter Laing samples for review (if you remember D.Laing had split into 2 companies, and Hunter Laing took the OMC line, while D.Laing kept Big Peat and created the new Old Particular range). I don’t get to taste a lot of Braeval and this was indeed a good opportunity to try more of this distillery. I found this one on Amazon! very surprising.
Braeval 15 yo ‘Old malt cask,50% abv cask 9888 , £67
Nose: Creamy vanilla and orchard fruit : peach, grape peel , sandalwood cereals and honey make for a lovely nose on this one. gentle and needs time to develop.
Palate: pepper and spice, on the first wave of flavors, give way to coconut, vanilla, and fruit with a nice maltiness with some nuts and spiced wood. bits of chocolate on the 2nd wave … as well as lemon rind.
Finish: Lemon rind, pepper, chocolate , coconut and wood.
In short: A nice full bodied dram, nice at 50%. Not a bad choice … very drinkable stuff.
Lots of the Braevals I’ve tried (lots… right.) have a lot of that generic vanilla flavour. I usually don’t find them that expressive.
It’s a nice sipper malt. not wow, but certainly well made. very good session whisky i might say… Not something i will remember, but def. worth having for fun.