Royal Brackla distillery is another obscure blending machine that, despite obscurity and dispassionate regard from most malt aficionados, produces a fine spirit. Thankfully this spirit can be found fairly readily from the hands of the independents. 

The distillery was reconstructed in 1965, a process which involved switching from direct-fired stills to internal steam meeting and from worm tubs to modern condensers. It is difficult to know what effect this had on the spirit as there are barely any bottlings that predate these changes. One possible example is an old 16yo OB for Italy bottled sometime in the 1970s at 57%. It is a typically old style waxy, fresh and green fruited dram that is a little more closed and woody on the palate than the freshness of the nose suggests, an excellent old style dram all the same.

Other fine bottlings distilled in the seventies and early eighties are a 1976 22yo by Douglas Laing, a fantastic 1976 30yo by Cadenhead's, another great 1976 by Scotts Selection and a stunning 1975 27yo by Specialty Drinks. These all reveal Brackla to still be quite an old-style dram in the seventies, very polished with delicate notes of honey, wax, camphor, various oils and light garden fruits. Very good stuff in other words.