Brand
Brora
Age
32 years old
Expression
2011 Release
Whisky type
Single Malt
Distillery
Brora Distillery
Origin
Highland, Scotland
Year launched/bottled
2011
Limited edition
1,500 bottles
ABV.
54.70%
Source
Diageo
In collection

Review by Brora

Colour

Antique gold. Bright, with good beading.

Nose

Modest but complex. Mild nose-feel, yet with a white pepper prickle. Immediate, sharp freshness, rising over sweet malt with fragrant wood smoke curling in the background. Gradually more fruity (baked apples with red-currant jelly, lemon and lime zests) then waxy (warm candlewax) with a trace of hessian, faint spearmint and creamy vanilla. Late, cleansing notes. Water freshens and sweetens things, liberating fresh menthol and floral notes underscored by soft, lemony biscuit, or Madeira cake.

Palate

At natural strength, fizzy and spicy. Subdued at first; sweet to start, with subtle smoke followed by sweet, charred notes (burnt fruit cake) then distinctly salty and drying. Smoother to drink with water: lightly sweet, then still salty and drying, with less spice, and now the burnt fruit-cake has become a soft, chewy, iced Danish pastry.

Finish

Long and warming, with late smoke and crushed black peppercorns. Later, traces of wood ash. Creamy and cooler with water; sweet with faint smoke and mint.

Note

Magnificent, and excellent at cask strength: the coastal, smoky, savoury Brora character is here sweetly softened in a malt that’s courteous yet informal; it has the depth and complexity of age yet also a spicy, lively twinkle, like a favourite uncle.

Source: Diageo