About This Dram

Brora is one of those legendary distilleries. It is actually the original Clynelish distillery, built over two hundred years ago in 1819. In 1967 they built a second distillery to keep up with the new demand for their unique malt, this new distillery was called Clynelish 2. How original. In fact, in 1975 they put an end to this unoriginal naming practice and said that distillery names must be unique. No more distillery 2’s. So the new distillery took on the mantel of Clynelish, while the original – believed to be on its last legs anyway, became name dafter the village in which it resided, Brora.

During this time, Brora became somewhat of a backup distillery. Called upon when another distillery was unable to prodce. And, in the 1970, one such distillery was Caol Ila – which led to a heavily peated version of Brora. This came to an end in 1977, and infact the bottling we have here is some of the last from this era.

Brora then famously closed down in 1983, due to the global decline in whisky demand. Luckily for us, they never got around to demolishing the place – and as of May 2021 the stills are once again operational! What a comeback!

You can see my unbottling of this Brora in the below video – where I say on the record that this is likely the best whisky I’ve ever had. How much of that is the quality of the liquid, and how much is the story that goes with it is anyone’s guess – but in the end does it really matter? Trying this whisky for the first time will be a memory I treasure for the rest of my life, and hopefully, many of the lucky Dram Association members who tried it at the “Dram – It’s Good To Be Back” event felt the same way.

Tasting Notes

Assorted fruit travel sweets, tawny port, band aids, black currant cough drops, calvados, berry compote, vanilla soft-serve, bbq corn on the cob – slightly burnt, guava, machine oil, sheep, creamsicle, ocean breeze, sticky toffee pudding, beach bonfire, raw honey