Product Description
THE BARTENDER’S BOOK
Brora 1972 22 Year Old Rare Malts is one of the most revered Highland single malts, distilled in 1972 and bottled in 1995 as part of Diageo’s Rare Malts Selection. Released at a natural cask strength of 58.7% ABV, this 22-year-old expression is celebrated for its intense, farmyard peat character, complemented by notes of waxy citrus, brine, and smouldering oak. Renowned whisky critic Serge Valentin awarded it an exceptional 97 points, marking it as one of the highest-rated Brora bottlings ever. With its limited availability and legendary status, this whisky remains a coveted gem among collectors and connoisseurs.
TASTING NOTES
Taste is more than flavor. It is the full conversation between glass, nose, mouth, and memory. Here, we break each spirit into four parts:
AROMA
Peat smoke, woodsmoke, almond skin, wax, damp stone, lemon peel, putty, coastal minerals, light peach sweetness, and a deeper tar/diesel note often associated with classic Brora. Public notes repeatedly frame it as powerful, farmy, smoky, oily, and coastal.
PALATE
Immense peat, pepper, smoke, coastal salt, wax, citrus, rich malt, orchard fruit, and earthy oak. Public notes describe waves of complex peat, peppery spice, fruit, and a firm, monolithic structure.
FINISH
Very long, smoky, salty, peppery, and mineral, with lingering baked orchard fruit, peat, wax, and old oak.
TEXTURE
Full-bodied, oily, powerful, and cask-strength, with enough wax and malt density to carry the high proof without losing Brora’s coastal structure.
This is one of the benchmark 1972 Broras: smoky, farmy, waxy, coastal, citrusy, oily, and powerful. It is not a gentle old malt. It is classic heavy Brora, with peat, salt, tar, lemon, wax, and fruit moving together in a way that made the 1972 vintage legendary.
STRAIGHT TALK
This is one of the bottles that helped build Brora’s modern cult reputation. The Whisky Exchange describes the 1972 Rare Malts Broras as “now-legendary,” and notes that this version helped kick-start wider interest in the lost distillery. It also states that whisky critic Serge Valentin gave this version a 97-point score, one of the key reputation markers attached to the bottle.
The main issue is not quality. It is market reality. This bottle has moved into serious collector territory, with current marketplace references placing the 58.7% version around £10,000–£11,000.
Availability Note:
This is a closed-distillery-era official Rare Malts bottling from Brora’s celebrated 1972 vintage. Normal retail availability should not be expected. It appears mainly through specialist retailers, auctions, and collector-market channels.
THE MIX
The flavor logic here is bold, old-school, and coastal: peat smoke, farmyard earth, wax, lemon, tar, diesel, salt, pepper, orchard fruit, and old oak. This is not a delicate dessert profile. It belongs with flavors that can stand near smoke, mineral salinity, citrus acidity, and earthy depth.
Citrus:
Lemon peel, grapefruit zest, bitter orange, preserved lemon, lime skin
Fruit:
Baked apple, peach, pear, yellow plum, dried apricot
Spice / Herbs:
Black pepper, white pepper, ginger, thyme, bay leaf, heather, dried sage
Sweet / Dessert Notes:
Heather honey, almond skin, malt biscuit, shortbread, light toffee, baked orchard fruit
Savory / Food Pairings:
Smoked trout, oysters, roast lamb, game bird, grilled mushrooms, aged Comté, blue cheese, charred leeks, roasted root vegetables
Jazz Chef angle:
This is Brora as a storm front: peat, wax, sea salt, lemon peel, tar, orchard fruit, and old Highland dirt rolling in with serious authority.
A DISTILLER’S TALE
The Rare Malts Selection was Diageo’s way of releasing older, often cask-strength whiskies from distilleries with historic or limited stock. Brora’s 1972 vintage became especially revered because it captured the distillery during one of its most distinctive heavily peated periods. Brora later closed in 1983, which turned these official Rare Malts bottlings into finite artifacts from a lost production era. The 1972 22 Year Old now sits among the most important bottles in the Brora collector
MY TAKE
The Jazz Chef take: this is not polished luxury Brora. This is elemental Brora: peat, wax, salt, tar, citrus, farmyard funk, and old oak, the kind of bottle that explains why collectors turned a closed Highland distillery into a mythology.
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