Review by: Raygun

A group of us put together a little homemade Advent calendar. Been a while since Christmas, but life happens. Have a few reviews from that collection to organize and post. This was a surprise in many respects. I don’t expect to have a Rare Malts sample blind, and I had no idea Royal Brackla had ever been owned by Diageo/DCL. I see it was owned by DCL from 1943 to 1995, whenit was sold to Bacardi and is now part of the Dewar’s group, including Aberfeldy, Aultmore, and Craigellachie. This was a Rare Malts release from 1998. Initially sampled blind. Reviewed from a sample. Rested about 15 minutes.

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Distillery: Royal Brackla   

Bottler: Royal Brackla/Diageo

Region/style: Highlands single malt Scotch  

ABV: 59.8%.  

Age: 20 years. 

Cask type: Not stated, but I would bet bourbon.

Color: 0.9 amontillado. Natural color and non-chill-filtered.

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Nose: Smells like fall to me. Spiced apple cider, donuts, orange, and some vanilla. Got some age to it. Hefty oak. Even more orange, and has that distinct old smell.      

Palate: Malty again, with a good dose of oak. Apple cider donuts, caramel, brioche, and some pastry cream. Like a cream puff thing going on. Definitely tastes like a bourbon cask, and a darn good one. More spice comes out with time. Deep oak. Tea with orange and apples. And cinnamon. Drinks very easily for being nearly 60%.

Finish: Pretty oaky. Get some spiced black tea, like an apple cinnamon blend. Caramel and there’s the brioche again. Tannic, but not bitter. Orange peeks out again. And still very woody. Great length. 

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Conclusion: This goes down very nicely. Would have thought it’s even older than 20 years, but not too oaky. Great spice, apple, and tea flavor. Surprisingly no burn even at full strength, but the butter flavor comes out more with a few drops of water. The kind of thing I’d love to have a bottle of. Especially suited for a fall day, maybe after a hike. Or pretty much any occasion. Great stuff. 

Score: 89

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Scoring Legend:

• 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky. (Convalmore 36)
• 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category. (Bruichladdich Black Art 4.1)
• 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram. (Ledaig 13 Amontillado)
• 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff. (Tomatin 18)
• 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting. (Glen Scotia 15)
• 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better. (Aultmore 12)
• 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink. (Glenmorangie 10)
• 50-59: Save it for mixing. (Old Pulteney 12)
• 0-49: Blech. (Muirhead’s Silver Seal 16)