Royal Brackla
Founded in 1812 by Captain William Fraser as the Brackla distillery, it wasn’t until 1833 that William 4th granted the royal warrant that enabled the distillery to carry the “Royal” in its name. Royal Brackla is one of only 3 distilleries to receive the Royal warrant with the other two being Royal Lochnagar and the now demolished Glenury Royal.
Although there is an official core range it is not a whisky that is talked about or seen on too many shelves, most will end up in the blenders hands and what survives then heads to the official 12,16,21 year old releases and into the indie bottlers.
Does the Royal label add anything to the prestige these days ? id guess very little although I am sure any distillery would actually welcome one with open arms but thats as far as i expect it would go.
Do drinkers worry about such things ? i doubt very much the average drinker would even know you need a royal warrant to add the Royal part and as such there in its self is the answer.. Most of the drinkers these days want value for money and to some extent probably forego a little quality in the search for value.
Value for money is a strange thing though as it is still only an opinion and opinions certainly split the room when we all get together to discuss such things, value to you may be very different to what i call value and there in itself is the problem, value depends on a budget and the ceiling we are prepared to reach ! Your budget will be very different to Joe Blogs and his different to mine hence we have a problem..
I hear so often its not good value and that means it has to be knocked but if your wallet or purse does not allow you to be extravagant then its hard to say its not value.. Then you get those who expect things to be top quality and great value but unfortunately we live in a time where you pay for quality and certainly cant expect it to be handed out for free or near enough free..
That Boutique-y Whisky Company
That brings me nicely onto TBWC and do we get value for money from this Independent bottler ? well that’s a loaded question, in my opinion yes but some might say I am biased, well i might be as ive bought about 50 or so bottles from them and had the privilege of helping them out at festivals so yes i am biased ? I only part with my hard earned cash for quality products and TBWC stands for quality, if that means i have to pay for it then so be it !! The company offers whisky that is winning award after award for the products they produce/buy and you don’t get those if the product is not up to scratch.
If you actually take most of their products and compare to their opposition then you get some sort of indication to just how good the value actually is, but like most of the people out there who like to moan then im sure this would be too much like hard work.. Don’t also forget the company has to buy in casks at a price generally set by the selling distillery/company and that might be inflated ! then add the costs of bottling, advertising, staff wages and you will hopefully start to understand where the prices come from and when the price for say a Macallan, Springbank or Glenfarclas is high then imagine what the cost of said casks might have actually cost in the first place, its quite staggering what they have to pay in order to get these casks in the first place…..
Royal Brackla 12 year old – batch 1
Distillery.. Royal Brackla
Region.. Highlands
Age.. 12 years
Abv.. 47.9%
Cask.. Prob Re Fill Bourbon
Outturn.. 1472 bottles
Batch 1..
Nose.. Just think about eating an apple in the early morning, sitting on freshly mowed grass that’s still damp from the dew, the freshness in the air and the scents rising from the meadow flowers and you are not far from the scents rising from this glass.. Add a little lemon drizzle cake, honey and summer fruits on the hedge rows.
Palate.. A little prickle from fresh ginger and a touch of pepper leads nicely into fresh apple peel, poached pear and a little citrus peel bitterness.
Finish.. Soft spices fade a little too quickly for my liking
Thoughts.. I have said it before that some drams are suited to the seasons and thisis certainly more of a spring, summer style of whisky ! The delicate style and softness will get lost on these cold days of winter but make no mistake this certainly has a lot of merits and for anyone who enjoys those softer styles of whisky than need a little work to unlock the qualities within then you will enjoy this, if however you need those big bold smack you in the face styles of whisky to rock your boat then you are not going to ever understand something like this !!
ocdwhisky.com 