Royal Brackla – 1998 Connoisseurs Choice (70cl, 46%)

Royal Brackla – 1998 Connoisseurs Choice is a whisky from Royal Brackla (Highland). Bottled at 46% ABV, 70cl. Founded in 1895, Gordon & MacPhail has been bottling single malt whiskies for 120 years and by the 1950s it held the largest range of bottled malt whiskies in the world. This family-run business has bottled the oldest single malt whisky in the world - a Mortlach 1939 75 Year Old - as well as being a distiller itself after buying Benromach in 1993. They bottle whisky across several ranges including Connoisseurs Choice, the Private Collection, and their most exclusive, Generations. In 2023 they opened a new distillery in the Cairngorms National Park called “The Cairn”. Connoisseurs Choice is one of the most easily recognised ranges from the independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail. This range was launched by George Urquhart - one of the first of four generations of the family to build Gordon & MacPhail - back in the 1960s, a period, (where most malts were used in blends) this was quite an unusual move for a whisky company. Perhaps due to the popularity surrounding blends, this range did well as the exception by showcasing some distilleries which had never before been bottled as single malts and thus, it has proved to be a hit for more than 35 years. Royal Brackla