Review #121: Brora 30yr, 2009 release (8th edition), 53.2%, OB, 2652 bottles

birthday blogging

Seems like a good time to open this. From the dead distillery across the way from Clynelish.

nose: peaches, honey, a bucket of seawater, an almond, some rocks, roses, salted caramels, baked apples with oak spice, creamy beeswax, and muted but biting peat. More sherry fruit comes out over time. Tiny hints of loam and ricola and bacon. Nothing seems particularly profound or intense, but it's like a greatest hits album. Everything is sedate, balanced: it moves nicely between fruit and peat and wax.

palate: smoky wax, lemony apples. Really very waxy, and the peat coats everything. Some sauvignon blanc flavors, old oak, and some nice herbs (tarragon, lemon balm).

finish: the peat tingles and settles into smoke, lots of fruity sweetness with vanilla, and a little menthol. really lingers.


This doesn't rock my world, but it comes pretty close. It's basically a peaty Clynelish with some extra depth and richness. But that's pretty good!

score: 91