My first experience with Braes of Glenlivet (a.k.a. Braeval Distillery) single malt, and it was bottled over 25 years ago!
Braes of Glenlivet, renamed to Braeval Distillery in 1994, is a relatively young distillery that was founded in 1972 in the Ballindalloch area of Speyside. Why the name change? To avoid any confusion or being associated with Glenlivet Distillery, which was and is owned by the same parent company as Braeval. It was founded by Chivas, then part of Seagrams, which became part of Pernod Ricard in 2000. As was often the case with these less famous and often neglected distilleries the new owners elected to close the distillery just over a year later, and it remained 'mothballed' for six years before resuming production. As is also often the case with these less famous distilleries, the vast majority of their production - over four million litres of spirit annually - goes in to the parent company's blended whiskies, in this case the likes of Ballantine's and Chivas Regal, and single malt official bottlings are almost impossible to find with only three examples in existence - a 25, 27 and 30-year old, released as part of Chivas Brother's "Secret Speyside" range of limited releases from their lesser known distilleries. Interestingly, despite being released within the last couple of years those official bottlings are labelled as Braes of Glenlivet, not Braeval, which seems a strange and somewhat dubious choice! Even independent bottlings aren't seen very often from this remote distillery. Braeval is not open to the public and has no visitor's centre, and it's production methods aren't particularly remarkable with six conventional pot stills, two wash and four spirit, all equipped with onion-shaped reflux balls and upward-angled lyne arms designed to produce a lighter spirit. The distillery's main claim to fame is that it is the highest in Scotland by elevation, albeit only surpassing Dalwhinnie by only a couple of metres. The latter is still often referred to as the highest in Scotland, probably only because very few people have heard of Braeval, let alone are aware of it's elevation. Does it really matter which is highest? No, of course not; it's essentially a marketing tactic. But higher elevation does have an effect on the production and maturation at those distilleries, thanks to differences in air pressure, humidity and temperature.
There is more to the story of the name change though, since including the word "Glenlivet" was a much more common thing a few decades ago. In fact throughout the 19th Century the word was a generic term used to denote whiskies from the Speyside region, and it had started during the illicit distilling days, well before Glenlivet Distillery had been issued it's license following the excise act of 1823. Very famous distilleries like Macallan, Aberlour, Mortlach and Glenrothes were all hyphenated as "X-Glenlivet", e.g. Macallan-Glenlivet, right up until the 1980s-1990s. And this is also why Glenlivet Distillery is officially named "The" Glenlivet, which resulted from legal battles in the late 1800s. So if the distillery changed names in 1994 and this whisky was bottled in 1996, why is it labelled as Braes of Glenlivet and not Braeval? Because this is an independent bottling, and quite a few independent bottlers chose to bottle their whiskies under the original names of the distilleries that were responsible for the production of the spirit. In fact a couple, most notably Cadenheads, still choose to use the "X-Glenlivet" names that I mentioned above for many bottlings from those distilleries. The word Braes, by the way, essentially means hillside or slope, so Braes of Glenlivet means "Hillside of Glenlivet", which itself means "Valley of the Livet", as in the River Livet that runs through the area and is an offshoot of the River Spey.
This particular bottling of Braes of Glenlivet was opened by a mate during his recent birthday celebration, and it was distilled in the year of his birth - yes, he's very old - making it a very special moment! This is a single cask bottling from independent bottlers Signatory Vintage, and it was distilled in June 1979 and bottled in February 1996 at 16 years of age. A single butt (500-litre cask), cask number 16045, yielded 380 numbered bottles at a strength of 43%. I'm assuming that was a refill sherry butt, but a reasonably active one. Having been bottled a quarter of a century ago, this certainly qualifies as what the whisky world calls a "dusty" bottle, meaning that it has survived unopened for a long time! Thankfully the cork actually came out in one piece, which was quite the surprise given the age, and the contents was showing great promise almost straight away. February 1996 was a very different time of course, Signatory Vintage had been founded back in 1988 but were still six years away from their purchase of Edradour Distillery, and the whisky industry would've been almost unrecognisable compared to the booming giant that it is today, particularly when it came to single malts. Personally I had only just started the final year of primary school back then and probably didn't even know what whisky was, so this is a real time capsule of a bottle! Despite being both distilled and bottled so long ago - don't forget, the friend who opened this bottle is very old - this bottle was actually relatively affordable, mainly because of the distillery being less widely known and less desirable than more famous names. But in my admittedly limited experience, older bottlings from this era are always worth trying, since they offer a glimpse in to a much different time in both the world and in the whisky industry. Let's do it!
Distilled June 1979, bottled February 1996. Single sherry butt #16045, assumed refill cask, 380 bottles. Unknown chill filtration or colouring, but likely natural colour.
Colour: Bronze. Quite hazy as well so I'd have to guess non-chill filtered.
Nose: Warm, dusty & quite "old school", but also quite fresh. Herbal honey, dry grass, baked red apples with warm wood spices and a touch of runny caramel. Brown bread dough, dried orange slices and a touch of sweet under-ripe tropical fruit around the edges. Touch of dried ginger too.
Texture: Light-medium weight, but doesn't "feel" diluted. Dusty & slightly chalky. No heat at all.
Taste: Sweeter & fruitier here. More orange slices but they're fresh now, and slightly bitter. Dusty malt, baking spices, dry grass & dried leafy herbs. Some runny caramel before that bitterness increases in volume- think bitter orange, and with a few cloves and a touch of ginger thrown in.
Finish: Short-medium length. Touch of liquorice and those baking spices, still that bitter orange, dry grass & dried leafy herbs. Dusty malt and runny caramel again. Some old leather and a touch of red apple skins. And that hint of tropical fruit around the edges again.
Score: 3.5 out of 5. Edging towards a 3 though.
Notes: A very interesting 'blast from the past' whisky this. It's both "old school", dusty & leathery, and fresh & grassy at the same time. Quite herbal too with plenty of orange & baking spices, but that bitterness that starts to show on the palate is allowed to steer the ship a little too much for my liking, and it seems to dull the finish a little. There are flashes of a nice sweet fruitiness around the edges though, and the bigger picture is quite enjoyable. Having not tried a Braes of Glenlivet / Braeval before it's hard to compare to contemporary whiskies, but I haven't come across this dusty, leathery "old" character in many modern Speyside or Highland whiskies lately.
When trying these old bottlings you can't help but wonder what they would've been like at cask strength, or even slightly higher at 46%. But the whisky world was a very different place back in the mid-1990s, and such things were not high on the list of priorities for the majority of producers; even among single malts and even among independent bottlings. But then it also doesn't feel like it's lacking, exactly, so that's just a thought. Still a very interesting experience with this old bottling, and a great way to help celebrate the birthday boy's trip around the sun!
Cheers!
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