BRORA 1981 - DUN BHEAGAN

It's time for a review from the fabled Brora distillery... Now, where as the 70's bottlings were heavily peated, the bottlings up to the distillery's closure around march 1983 were more or less unpeated or atleast lighty peated, much like todays Clynelish across the road, which was the reason they shut the distillery in the first place.

This doesn't make it any less iconic, though ... and prices of Brora have risen steadily over the years, some to absolutely ridiculous levels for certain bottlings.

Other than being closed and having produced some heavily peated malt during a periode in the 70's - what then makes Brora special? I mean, the new Clynelish distillery was made to fairly the same specs as  the old one... and even there some -at least- peated batches were produced. Is it the combination of the heavy peat and the its incredible fruitness? The glorious periode in the 70's where incredible whisky were made at quite a few distilleries? Or simply people's collectors gene that strikes again? IMHO, its very good - and can be even incredible drinking whisky, so it should be drunk... but prices these days makes it hard for people to crack a bottle open - I've heard this statement from quite a few people now :-O

Your thoughts on this, please... you can post them below or on The Malt Desk's Facebook page.



Brora Distillery, August 4th 2009 © The Malt Desk

Its been a while since I tried this particular bottling from the bottler Ian Macleod sub series 'Dun Bheagan' so my notes are a couple of years old, but now is just as good a time as ever to post them, so here it goes... This one is also interesting as its from a Fino sherry butt, which should give it a more drying edge.

Brora 1981 24yo (xx.12.1981/xx.xx.2006) 48,5%, Fino sherry butt#1524, 726 bottles, Dun Bheagan

Colour is amber

Nose:
Starting off slightly dirty in style, ash, hint of wet horse, earthy, dried tobacco leaves and a sour note. After a while it gets more fruity as in ordinary garden fruits and it even produces that long sought after whiff of smoke.

Taste:
Arrival is on a peppery sweetness and still with a little dirty mouthfeel that adds to the experience here. Gets very fruity for a few seconds mid palate, most on oranges and dark chocolate with a smoky edge. Finishes on a slight nutty bitterness, more fruit and toffee with a hint of nipping oak.

A very good Brora that was -up until about a year ago- available at a 'resonable' price (£150/€180 or so).

Again, very good whisky!

89/100!