LOT ID: 0922-852
End Date : Nov 30 2022 09:00 PM
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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.
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The First Cask range was a prolific series of single malt whisky bottlings by the UK’s largest mail order wine company Direct Wines Ltd, owner of Laithwaite’s and The Sunday Times Wine Club. From the early 1990s until the mid-Noughties Direct Wines released dozens of outstanding single cask whiskies annually under the First Cask label, almost all of which were bottled at 46%.
These whiskies were not particularly highly sought-after on release, probably because they were only sold online through a wine club. Back then, of course, it was not widely known that the casks had been sourced from Signatory Vintage, which would certainly have raised their profile among whisky fans. Nowadays, although still frequently excellent value at auction, the First Cask collection - which includes hundreds of long-aged whiskies from distilleries including Brora, Port Ellen, Ardbeg and Macallan - is finally getting the recognition it deserves.
BID | DATE | TIME | |
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£72.50 | 30th November 2022 | 06:17 | |
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