Royal Brackla - 1990s

Royal Brackla is a large but still relatively obscure old Highland distillery and has been owned by Bacardi since 1998 when the latter bought the Dewar’s group from Diageo. Brackla had been somewhat lost in Diageo’s portfolio, but under Bacardi, the distillery was revitalized and a new range of official bottlings finally appeared in 2015. The distillery’s Royal Warrant was bestowed by King William IV in 1835, the first to be awarded to a Scotch whisky distillery.

Independent bottlings of Royal Brackla are more common nowadays than they used to be, but are generally relatively young casks, although more respectably aged releases have appeared from Gordon & MacPhail and the SMWS. The distillery itself also now bottles occasional long-aged limited editions as the Exceptional Casks series.

Distillery bottlings are, as the name suggests, bottled by or for the distillery from which the whisky has originated and are thus often referred to as Official Bottlings or OBs. Distillery bottlings are generally more desirable for collectors and usually fetch higher prices at auction than independent bottlings. They are officially-endorsed versions of the whisky from a particular distillery and are therefore considered the truest expression of the distillery’s character.

This ideal of the distillery character is regarded so seriously by the distilleries and brand owners that casks of whisky that are considered to vary too far from the archetype are frequently sold on to whisky brokers and independent bottlers. When this happens, it is often with the proviso that the distillery’s name is not allowed to be used when the cask is bottled for fear of diminishing or damaging the distillery’s character and status.