Royal Brackla 1997 NC2 Review (plus blind review video)

Image courtesy of Master of Malt

Hi everyone,

Blind tasting is a really funny thing. Expensive whiskies that normally get huge praise get thrown aside as harsh, and cheap stuff that is usually crapped on is held in high regard. Equally I’m discovering another facet to it. Whiskies can taste very different from what you remember of them.

This one I remembered being nothing special. An under-matured, spirity whiskies without the character to back it up. Was I wrong about that? Blind review me seems to think so. He found it quite nice. Nice enough to think it was an 18yo Glentauchers at 48.8%. Which I had given a higher score to.

So here’s blind review me doing a review, and my non-blind notes:

Royal Brackla 1997 NC² (Duncan Taylor) 46%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light

Nose: Very clean. Ethanol, light pear, light green apple, very light vanilla, lemon juice. On the blind review I was getting much more maltiness.

Taste: Light, crisp and fresh. Green apple, pear, lemon, lemon juice, some vanilla and caramel developing with a little spice. Smooth and light.

Finish: Medium length. Peppery then soft oak. Again, on the blind review I got a nicer finish with a very good transition of flavours.

NC² bottling from Duncan Taylor, 13 year old. This seems to have improved with oxygen and has definitely made me reconsider Royal Brackla.

69/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #578

Whisky Network Review #683

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

Worst Score: 22

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?