The Age of Peat offers a glimpse of Brora’s past - a golden age of distilling. A fine, elegant old coastal malt with rich fruit sweetness and compelling smokiness, held in perfect balance with a vigour remarkable for its age.

The years in the run-up to the distillery’s eventual closure produced some of the most masterful whiskies Brora has ever known. This they put down to an experimentation process that saw them develop a specific smoky malt from heavily peated Northern Highland barley. Whilst at the time it was mostly used for blending, the few single casks that remain from this “age of peat” have proved to be of astonishing quality. Today’s 40-year-old, distilled in 1978, reflects this moment of Brora’s past — the apogee of production at this now-revered distillery.

Brora 40-Year-Old 49.2%
Distilled 1978
£4,500 (including UK Duty & Tax)

Clear amber in colour with fine long beading and good viscosity. On the nose there is a slight prickle at first, then sweet, smoky-peat wafts of treacle toffee, smoke with iodine. Rich, sweet fruit. Ripe figs. Raisins. Fire and brimstone. With water, hessian sacking, fine tweed, notes of the warehouse; all lightly harmonious, with elements of land, sea and sky. The body is medium and smooth. On the palate, there is an exquisitely smooth, lightly waxy texture and a powerful, rich, darkly sweet, savoury then finally smoky taste, with great balance, length and persistence. Richly winey and fruity throughout, with dried figs and dates. Spiciness and growing smoky warmth; white pepper. Best straight but also deliciously drinkable with a dash of water, which adds to the sweetness and brings up a minty note; suggesting mint imperials, whilst dialling back the darker character. All this is still underpinned by a smokiness that is also held more in check but still very much present. The finish is long, rich and sweetly warming, with more white pepper, subsiding to leave a lightly smoky aftertaste. With water, much sweeter and more mint-cool, and at the very end lightly drying.

For two hundred years, the timeless artistry at Brora has been protected and passed on by The Keepers of Brora: craftsmen & custodians who have nurtured its spirit through decades of adversity, closure and quiet. The 200th Anniversary bottling marks the release of one of the most acclaimed liquids in the world, with only 1,819 bottles available globally.