Brora 1972 22 Year Old Rare Malts 58.7% 70cl

From the Rare Malts selection, this is one of the very first official expressions bottled under the name of Brora.

The distillery, founded in 1819, was orignally named Clynelish. Much later, in 1967 under the ownership of Distillers Company Limited (since absorbed into Diageo), the distillery was expanded with the construction of a second, larger distillery, adjacent to the original site. The original distillery, "Clynelish B" was mothballed only a year later, before reopening in 1969 as Brora distillery. The new distillery remains the Clynelish we know today.

At the time this malt was distilled, in 1972, Brora distilery was devoted to the production of heavily peated spirit, to make up for a shortage of peated Islay whisky caused by a drought on the island and the refurbishment of Caol Ila. A year later, in 1973, the distillery returned to their more familiar lightly peated style.

The spirit was filled into casks, and bottled after 22 years of maturation in 1995. This bottling is one of three cask strength bottlings of Brora of the same age released that year as part of the Rare Malts Selection range by United Distillers, who would shortly become Diageo.

Two bottles of this whisky are available with slightly different fill levels and therefore at different prices. This bottle has the higher fill level. The bottle with the lower fill level can be found here.

As can be seen from the image, the fill level is slightly low. The capsule and back label are in good condition and the front label shows only very minor signs of wear.