Royal Brackla 12 Years is part of Dewars Last Great Malts releases and next to the Craigellachie 13 it’s my 2nd favorite in the line up.This is the “starter malt” of the new Royal Brackla line with a 16 and 21 year old version also coming available a little later this year.Royal Brackla 12 is first aged in ex-bourbon casks and then finished for an undisclosed amount of time in first fill Oloroso sherry casks.

The Brackla distillery was founded in 1812, but in 1835 received a name change of sorts when Brackla became the whisky supplier of King William IV’s court. Being the official supplier they were able to add the Royal prefix to the distillery and its products, which it’s done ever since.

Royal Brackla 12 Years Info

Region: Highlands, Scotland

Distiller: Royal Brackla
Mashbill: 100% Malted Barley
Cask: ex-Bourbon & ex-Sherry
Age: 12 years
ABV: 40%

Release: The Last Great Malts – Dewars

Price: $60*

Royal Brackla 12 Years Review

EYE
Amber

NOSE
Pit fruit, tropical fruit, dark malt, honey and a light spice that reminds me of a packet of instant cider.

PALATE
Starts off with rich notes of toffee, malt, dark fruit and dark honey before evolving into notes of red apples, spice and dried fruit. The sherry comes through in the dark fruit & dried fruit notes, but not in a solid identifiable “sherry” note.

FINISH
Long with noted of dried apricot, hay, toffee, banana chips and light touch of smoke.

BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
Good balance, medium body and a slick, almost oily, texture.

OVERALL
Royal Brackla 12 Years is a dark funky and interesting whisky that I’ve come to enjoy quite a bit over the last 2 weeks… but it wasn’t always that way. When I first opened it, the Royal Brackla 12 was my least favorite of the bunch, but over the course of the next 2 weeks it opened up and became quite tasty. Eyeing the bottles while typing this up it’s hard to miss that the Royal Brackla 12 has the lowest fill of the 3 recent releases, which should tell you everything you need to know.

Even though it’s a sherry finished whisky it doesn’t have anything that I’d actually call a “sherry note”, but instead has some great dark fruit, darkly sweet & dried fruit notes which likely come from the sherry. Also some, if not all, of the color because it’s a rather dark malt and sherry tends to do that to a whisky. All-in-all this is decent little dram and if you like the darker side of non-peated whiskies this might be right up your alley.

SCORE: 87/100

*Disclosure: This sample of Royal Brackla 12 Years was graciously sent to me by the company for the purposes of this review. The views, opinions, and tasting notes are 100% my own.

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