NV Brora 30yo - 2004 Release (56.6%)

This is the third batch, and I’ve heard there will be a 4th one in 2005. Not sure about the following years, though… Colour: pure gold. Nose: smoke, peat and some very bold animal notes: amazing! Imagine you visit a farm, with its dogs, the cow stable, a bonfire somewhere in the courtyard… It then gets very waxy and superbly yeasty like Poilâne’s bread… Absolutely stunning. I had thought they would have put the best casks into the first edition(s), but this one proves I was wrong. It then gets quite tary, with some diesel oil. Yet, it’s more refined than the first two editions, and less brutal. Mouth: surprisingly sweet, creamy, and almost un-peaty at first sip, but like in the very best Ardbegs, the smoke and the peat then develop into a magnificent continuum, even if the whisky remains always refined and subtle. It then gets very lemony and tary again, on green lemon, lemon grass… The finish is very long, on a perfect cocktail of smoky lemon juice with pepper. What a fantastic presence, deserving no less than 95 points in my book (but Olivier, who’s a little less shy than me with his ratings, gave it 97 points). Now, as I already told you, the problem is that this Brora is a killer, as it sort of damaged both the Caol Ila 25 yo and the Talisker 25 yo that were to follow… Mar 2005, www.whiskyfun.com