Brora 4th Release 30 Years Old 56.3% 1975

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Serge Valentin (94)

I never published any notes on this Brora 30 ‘2005’ but it’s time to do it, before the ‘2006’ comes out. Colour: deep gold. Nose: keyword ‘austerity’ this time, at least at first nosing. Whiffs of chocolate and coffee that suggest they used one or more sherry casks in the vatting but I could be wrong of course. No roundness, no sweetness, no sluggishness whatsoever, rather kind of a relative sharpness and huge smoky notes (not only peat, also coal and wood). It’s not very expressive in fact, until it gets kind of a second life consisting in a huge farminess that goes from horse dung to wet hay through straw and grain barn. And then we have whiffs of eucalyptus leaves. Then overripe apples. Then tar and heating oil. Then peppermint. Then, then, then… Mouth: bang! Most amazingly, everything arrives at the same time now: the peat, the liquorice, the gentian, the dried oranges, the spices, the mint, the pepper, the aromatic herbs, the horseradish, the smoked tea, the wax, the ginger, the mint… And no sherry-alike flavours this time – I was probably wrong. Not much development because we already had ‘everything’ right at the attack, except that it gets a little earthier, rootier after a moment. And the finish is very long and just as compact and full as the attack. Just excellent – if not as totally stunning as the ‘2004’ in my opinion. A 94 points malt in my book (95 for the ‘2004’).