[Sherry] Royal Brackla 12 Years Review

Tasty whisky - but there’s a sulphur problem. Dark chocolate, brown sugar, cherry - the sherry finish pulls a wide flavor arc, and at 46% non-chill-filtered the texture holds up. Sulphur sits on top the whole way through.

Royal Brackla 12 - the basics

• 46% ABV, non-chill-filtered, no added color
• Casks: bourbon maturation, finished in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks
• Distillery: Royal Brackla, Highland (Nairn). Established 1812. First Scotch distillery to hold a Royal Warrant, granted in 1833
• Owner: Bacardi. The spirit also feeds Dewar’s blended Scotch

The distillery spent decades pumping out fill for blends. Then in 2019 the single malt range got relaunched at 46% non-chill-filtered and Royal Brackla finally showed up as a single malt in its own right. The house style leans on that east-Highland fruity character and layers sherry-finish dried fruit and spice on top.

Royal Brackla core range

Post-2019 the lineup is lean and simple.

• 12 Years - Oloroso sherry finish. Today’s bottle
• 18 Years - Palo Cortado sherry finish. Drier, more complex
• 21 Years - Oloroso, Palo Cortado, and PX casks all in play. Top of the range

Royal Brackla 12 tasting notes

Nose

Raisin and plum up front. The sherry finish does its job - dried fruit leads. Malty grain underneath, and the oak has some weight to it. Then sulphur - struck match, mineral edge. Anyone who’s spent time with sherry cask whisky knows this one - it’s in the same family as what Glenfarclas 15 puts out, just dialed differently.

Palate

Dark chocolate. A slightly bitter entry, and then the brown sugar sweetness rolls in right after. Cherry sits in the middle - sweet and a little tart. The sherry finish does create a wide flavor spread, and this would be a really good pour if it stopped there. It doesn’t. The sulphur shows up on the palate too. Not quite rubber, not quite matchhead - more of a mineral texture that parks itself on the tongue. 46% gives it proper body and the alcohol never bites.

Finish

Dried-fruit sherry sweetness lingers, and the spice - ginger and nutmeg - warms in behind it. Medium length. A trace of the sulphur hangs on right to the end - complex if you’re generous, annoying if you’re not.

Verdict

Good whisky. 46% non-chill-filtered plus a rich sherry finish - the numbers are all there. But the sulphur. Whether you read that as “complexity” or as “distraction” decides how you end up scoring this bottle. If you want sherry cask whisky without the struck-match edge, BenRiach 12 The Twelve or GlenDronach 12 Original are cleaner pours. For the wider patterns across sherry cask whisky: sherry cask whisky common tasting notes.

Overall: ★★★★★ ★★★★★ 3.2 / 5