Description

SMWS 61.1 (Brora) 1976 12 Year Old

(Brora) 1976 12 Year Old

• Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
• Scotch Malt Whisky Society

75cl / 63.3%

The name of the Brora distillery used to be Clynelish, until the owners SMD built a brand new Clynelish distillery right across the road in 1968. The old Clynelish distillery (now Brora) was built by the Marquess of Stafford in 1819. Right before the new, larger distillery went into operation, the old one was closed down in May 1968. It would quite probably have remained closed if the weather gods hadn’t intervened.

Colour: straw. Nose: starts like a civilised brute, on whiffs of peat smoke and horse manure on top of hints of white fruits (cider apples) and shoe polish. Goes on with notes of old pu-erh tea that are very typical, a little paraffin and linseed oil, old leather, motor grease, a full plate of oysters (including lemon)… SMWS 61.1 (Brora) 1976 12 Year Old

With water: gets extremely mineral and flinty. Also lemon skin and fresh walnuts. Beautifully austere if we may say so. Mouth (neat): fabulous start, less directly peaty than earlier Broras (1972 and so on) and a tad more vanilled/candied, but the balance is rather perfect. Some green tea and bitter liqueurs, getting then much grassier. SMWS 61.1 (Brora) 1976 12 Year Old

The peat slowly disappears. With water: more fresh walnuts and some salt coming through. Quite some wax too, bitter herbal teas (peach leaves, cassis buds). Finish: long, austere, grassier, with just traces of peat and a little orange zest. Comments: these 1975s aren’t as majestic as earlier Broras, and certainly less peaty but they are beautiful old-school Highlanders. A style that doesn’t really exist anymore. Brora1976 12 Year Old