Royal Brackla 12 Year Old Single Malt Whiskey - Duty Free - 1 Litre

A 2015 release as part of the Last Great Malts series, Royal Brackla 12 Year Old is finished in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks and is light and spicy with notes of vanilla and black pepper.

Coming from a two-century-old distillery, the Royal Brackla has a rich history that includes the first whisky to have been granted an official royal seal. This expression has been aged for 12 years in Oloroso sherry casks.

History

The Speyside Royal Brackla Distillery opened in 1812 by Captain William Fraser. Employing the family barley farm, the distillery had their big breakthrough in 1935. They produced the first single malt with a royal warrant, granted by King William IV, earning the nickname “The King’s Own Whisky”. The operation changed hands many times in the following two centuries before it was bought by Bacardi in 1998. “This is the one that was described as “The Drink Divine” by the Royal household in the 1830s. […] “There’s only one whisky in the world that can be the first Royal whisky, I feel privileged to have worked on this,” says Stephen Marshall of Bacardi.

Today the facility uses the finest barley and crystal clear water from the Cawdor Burn. More time is allowed for the fermentation and the slow distillation process leads to more contact of the spirit with the copper. This minimizes the sulphur notes and brings a fruity, slightly grassy character to the spirit. The liquid is then aged in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks that bring notes of muscovado, dates, and walnuts to the table.

Launched as a part of the Last Great Malts collection, the Royal Brackla 12 Year Old is the youngest in the threesome of single malts next to 16 and 21-year-old expressions. The dozen years it has spent in sherry casks are quite obvious on the profile which is complex with malty, fruity, and peppery notes.