Bourbon cask # 310832, Filled 7/11/06 – Bottled 23/10/2020
Appearance – This whisky is straw/ white wine in colour, it’s beads up on the glass and has a mixture of medium thick slow legs initially and syrupy thick globs which slowly break away from the swirl line and hang there.
Nose – Straight away on the nose it’s a mixture of Cherry Bakewell tarts, cream soda fizzy drink and a dustiness, I rather like it so far. There’s a tropical fruit drink note about this too, it’s herbaceous with vanilla, and sweet cocktail cherries. It’s slowly developing now, and a nuttiness comes forward, some very light bbq meat notes follow with furniture polish, and yet the pineapple, mango and guava persist throughout also.
Palate – The first thing I notice is a lovely mouthfeel, quite syrupy to be honest. And then a wave of tropical and stoned fruits, pineapple, mango, guava, apricots and nectarines, with honey and vanilla. White pepper lazily raises its head and slowly cranks up the spiciness, bitter lemon jumps on for the ride along with ginger and nutmeg. For a Bourbon cask there are also some darker heavier notes too, cigar leaves, dunnage, an earthiness and new leather.
Finish – It’s on the long side of medium in length, spicy and fruity, dark chocolate, chilli’s, ginger along with tropical and stoned fruits, there’s some lovely oak and a nip of grapefruit. Letting it dry on the lips reveals some saltiness.
My thoughts – Well, this sample was gifted to me after a comment I made that in my opinion Royal Brackla official distillery bottlings have been a little underwhelming, not the worst by far, but not “up there”, which I do consider a shame, the “Royal” appeared for some reason.
It seems that the Whisky Broker found a cracker of a cask at Royal Brackla, this bottling is very impressive in my humble opinion, it is most certainly “up there”, and like other distilleries picked up by independent bottlers, they showcase exactly the qualities that some distilleries haven’t shown through their official bottlings, and they are quite a revelation to be honest.
Would I buy a bottle? – To be honest it is a no brainer really, I would certainly buy a bottle, in my opinion it is a super drop of whisky, my whisky friend who very kindly gifted me this drample confessed to me that he wished he’d bought 2 now, I can see why, though he still has the rest of the bottle to finish, lucky guy.
Notes – This bottling is natural in colour, non chill filtered and cask strength.
Thanks to – @DomsWhisky (Twitter).
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