Tuesday 6 December 2016

Brora 38yo 2016 Special Releases: TWE Show Report

Hello again,

From the epic Lagavulin 25, my next dram was my first ever Brora. It's the new Brora 38 1977.
Brora has an awesome history, so head over to whiskyfun.com to learn more. Suffice to say Brora has been closed since 1983 and will never produce whisky again.
For now, let's get to my notes:

Brora 38 Special Releases 2016 48.6%
Colour: Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: The wonderful waxiness of Clynelish, complex baking spices, threads of smoke?, very soft farmyard notes, wet hay, crystallised fruit.
Taste: Full arrival, tingling spices, lots of oaky complexity, crystallised fruit, prickling and waxy, salty and white pepper, great balance. It builds and builds.
Finish: Long length. More smoke appears with lovely chocolate notes and oak.
Hmmmm, I didn't perhaps realise that this would be so similar to Clynelish. And therein lies the problem: I wouldn't know this from a great older Clynelish.
85/100

I have a sample of the 2013 release and really look forward to it. This 2016 version was a bit of a let down after the amazing Laga 25, especially at double the price!

To compare I tasted an older Sherry Clynelish from Signatory:

Clynelish 1995 Signatory Cask Strength 53.6%
Colour: Light Amber
Body: Medium
Nose: Waxy and sweet. Orange citrus and lovely candle wax.
Taste: Soft and waxy, building spice, some ashy notes, lovely, orange peel citrus.
Finish: Long length. Orange peel then oak and tannins.
Cask 8687, refill Sherry butt. Bottled March this year. A great Clynelish, everything you would want from Brora's younger brother. Also, cut the price by x15.
83/100

More to come, probably the Port Charlotte 10 next!

Reviews #199-#200!

Network Average: 75.1
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just About OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent

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