Review #353 - Signatory Vintage Royal Brackla 11 Year Single Cask
Royal Brackla is a distillery now known for its sherry finishing or maturation, as well as longer-than-average fermentation times. Their OB core range is actually a relatively recent rebrand, but today, we're looking at an independent bottling from Signatory Vintage.
This specific cask of whisky has a distillation vintage of 2007, after which is was matured in a refill sherry cask, and then bottled in 2019. Actually, it's almost hard to believe that this was a refill cask - after only those 11 years, this is the color of cola, one of the most intense dark shades we've seen in a single malt.
Signatory Vintage Royal Brackla 11 Year Single Cask
Scotland/Highland - Single Malt
Current Locally Available Price: USD 75 (2024)
Age Statement: 11 Years
Strength: 43% ABV
Cask Makeup: Matured in a refill ex-sherry cask
Details: No color added; cask no. 307921, distilled June 14, 2007, bottled June 4 2019
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 1 time; bottle at 50% fill level at time of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Rich, nutty Oloroso sherry - the cask is quite dominant, with stewed dark fruits and orange taking center stage. There's a little hint of musty scents, but for the most part, it's a clean sherry-forward nose.
Palate: A medium mouthfeel, and this is soft and silky - lots of dark dried fruit, especially prunes. We get a bit of cola and chocolate as well, and then oranges and some baking notes: pepper and nutmeg. Nicely rounded overall.
Finish: Medium length or so, softer sherry now, nice and mellow. Hints of chocolate or Tootsie Rolls linger, and then they grow stronger with more time.
Final Note: Definitely cask dominated, but this is a nice example of a sherry bomb - strong fruits and chocolate, but it isn't overwhelming. The lower strength probably helped a little bit with that, though we would still like to see a higher bottling strength here.
Value is decent - this is one of the more reasonably priced Scotch independent bottlings that we've seen in our area. IBs don't always offer amazing value here in the US after importation fees and taxes, but this one is worth its price tag.
Our Average Rating: 7.0 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.64
About Us: We're a husband and wife review team living in the Midwest United States. Generally, our reviews and tasting notes will be a compilation of both of our experiences with a whisky over several tasting sessions.
Check out our other Royal Brackla reviews:
