Colour: Gold.
Nose: Young. Barley, yellow fruits and honey. It’s a bit flat
Mouth: The alcohol integration is not very good. Green barley, gentle smoke and hints of candied yellow fruits.
Finish: Medium. Mainly on the barley.

This is a typical young malt, it’s not bad but the alcohol is too present for me. The rest is quite pleasant.

Score: 85

Colour: White wine.
Nose: Yellow fruits, peaches, oranges, bananas and honey. There is no alcohol presence at all.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is good. The mouthfeel is a bit liquid. Typical fruit bomb! Yellow and white fruits, peaches, oranges and even candle wax.
Finish: Medium. A nice basket of fruits.

Monolithic but effective and highly quaffable, that’s a good one!

Score: 87

Colour: White wine.
Nose: It’s a typical bourbon-y Caol Ila profile. Lemons, cold ashes, gentle smoke and aerial peat. Really nice!
Mouth: The alcohol integration is good. The mouthfeel is a bit liquid.
Finish: Mid-long. Smoke, ashes, hints of candied lemons and delicate peat.

I would have loved to try it without the reduction, still a really good daily dram though.

Score: 88

Colour: Gold.
Nose: Candied oranges, leather, old books, mushrooms, floral honye, noble wood and hints of delicate wood smoke.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is good. The mouthfeel is a bit liquid. Raisins, dusty books, honey, candied oranges and leather.
Finish: Medium. Same flavours as the mouth but the candied oranges and honey notes linger a bit more.

It’s a good sherry, highly quaffable but it has a profile facing a bit too much towards sweet notes for me.

Score: 87

Colour: White wine.
Nose: Farmy peat everywhere guys, peat, hints of candied lemons and sea salt notes in the background.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is good and the mouthfeel is oily. There is a lot of farmy peat. Rapadura, wood smoke and dirty farmy peat! (Did I already say that?)
Finish: Long. Gentle smoke, candied lemons and peat!

Monolithic but highly effective and quaffable. If you love the dirty young Ledaig profile this one will be your guy.

Score: 88

Colour: White wine.
Nose: It’s delicate. Floral notes, honey, yellow fruits, white peaches. It’s well integrated and nicely balanced.
Mouth: It’s oily and powerful. The alcohol integration is quite good. It’s a nice fruit bomb : white & yellow fruits, beeswax, hints of floral notes and honey in the background. It’s nicely balanced to be honest.
Finish: Long. Mainly on ripe yellow fruits.

Really good daily dram. The alcohol is present but not intrusive. It’s warming your mouth and delivers flavours slowly. It’s pretty nice, with a better alcohol integration I would have scored one point higher for sure!

Score: 88

Colour: Deep brown.
Nose: Candied oranges, dark chocolate, bitter cocoa and tannins.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is not very good. It’s a typical sherry bomb but there is just too much alcohol presence for me.
Finish: Long. Still alcohol and typical sherry markers, it seems to be a dry sherry hidden there!

Unfortunately the alcohol over-presence kills it a bit.

Score: 86

Colour: Copper.
Nose: It’s a bit shy. Mainly raisins and leather.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is good. Even with the reduction, the mouthfeel is still thick. Now we have some kind of balance. Raisins, leather, dusty books, bitter cocoa and oranges.
Finish: Mid-Long. Same as the mouth but with some light sulfur notes.

The reduction helped a lot here, it’s a nice sherry bomb after all.

Score: 87

Colour: Copper.
Nose: Smoke, cold ashes, aerial peat, dried oranges and leather.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is not very good. Tannins, oranges, tobacco, peat , leather and some mineral notes.
Finish: Mid-Long. Leather and old books all over the place with some lingering mineral dryness and hints of peat.

It’s good but the alcohol is a bit too dominant.

Score: 86

Colour: White wine.
Nose: Fatty peat and aerial smoke.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is good and the mouthfeel is quite thick. Brown sugar, honey, iodine, sea salt and fatty peat. The sweetness is a bit too dominant but otherwise it’s really good.
Finish: Long. Fatty peat, coastal notes and hints of sweetness in the background.

That’s a really nice 5 yo, good job!

Score: 88

Colour: Straw
Nose: A bit shy. It should be the reduction though. Yellow fruits, butter, some kind of yellow fruit tarts.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is good. The mouthfeel is pretty thick given the reduction. White pepper, cream, butter, pastry, yellow peaches.
Finish: Medim with the same profile.

It’s a good daily dram but a bit too flat to score higher unfortunately.

Score: 87

Colour: White wine.
Nose: It’s a bit flat. Salted butter, vanilla and some fruits in the background.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is quite good. It’s fruity and buttery but quite flat. Nuts, grass and hints of fruits
Finish: Medium. It’s the same profile.

It’s my first Royal Brackla and I can’t say it’s bad but it’s clearly not a profile I appreciate much. Everything is a bit shy and underwhelming.

Score: 86

Colour: Light gold.
Nose: It’s shy. Tangerines, Granny Smith apples and honey.
Mouth: The alcohol integration is good and the mouthfeel is quite creamy. Cereals, barley, honey cakes and some orange flower notes.
Finish: Long. Honey cakes and orange marmelade.

I was expecting more from this one since it’s the only « old bottling » from this session but It seemed a bit underwhelming compared to a lot of those youngsters to be honest. It’s not bad but it’s too shy for sure!

Score: 87