Last August John Dewar & Sons Ltd. has unveiled a new range of proprietary bottlings from Royal Brackla distillery, one of Scotland’s oldest and most venerable distilleries. There are 3 such bottlings (12,16 and 21 year old). Standing on the fertile farmland of the Cawdor Estate, Royal Brackla Distillery was established in 1812 by the fiery Captain William Fraser who returned to the family farm after military service and took advantage of the fine barley it grew. Within 25 years his distillery’s reputation for spirit of sterling taste received its crowning moment when King William IV bestowed ‘Royal’ status to Brackla, in 1835. It thus became the first ever Scotch to garner a royal warrant, a revelation that led to its nickname: ‘The King’s Own Whisky’. I will hopefully be trying the entire range, sometime soon, but this sample of the 21 year old was sent in advance (thanks to the whisky shop tasting panel group). Royal Brackla claim to distill the liquid slowly, with quite some reflux. I arrived at tasting this without having prior experience with OB RB’s so, I did not quite know what to expect.
Royal Brackla 21 Year Old , OB , 40.0% , £180 
Nose: that’s a fine nose we have here… Lovely waxy notes as well as polished old oak, spices and old leather couches. Marzipan and candied Orange add well as dark chocolate, dark honey and tea leaves with a hint of mint.
Palate : the palate is lovely too with the old make profile, more dark chocolate and nuts, polished wood, treacle and again the old waxy feeling. A gentleman’s club sofa with the black tea leaves. Ripe orange candy. This is my kind of palate. Lots of yummy wood and chocolate.
Finish : wood, double espresso and earth.
Bottom line:
This is a very good whisky, highly enjoyable, showing great quality, depth, and lovely wood and old leather one can expect to find in older drams. I was quite impressed with it, to be honest. The only downside to this is the pricing, 180 quid is a lot of money indeed for a 40% ( I know there are other 21 year olds at the same price more or less, but…).
” . . . a very god whisky” would seem to be better than a royal one. 🙂
LOL. thanks . will fix
Just received 16 year old for a Chanukah present. Really very unusual. Fruity, but a different from the regular range of vanilla and almonds. Well priced. Becasue it is not like the regular Speyside make up, you keep want to go back for another tasting
happy Hannuka!