Side by side : Under the radar : two indie Braeval

Braeval Distillery is very under the radar, a workhorse producing blending stock for Chivas Brothers.

There are no distillery bottlings but indie releases are fairly easy to get hold of.

Braeval Distillery is very much under the radar, a workhorse distillery for Chivas Brothers' blends. I don't think there have been any OB bottlings.

Originally called Braes of Glenlivet Distillery (The hillside in the valley where the river Livet flows) was built in 1973 by Chivas Brothers and was used primarily for creating blending material. It was built to look like a traditional distillery, complete with pagoda, the inside however was built along the latest insights in distillery management. No malting floors or storage capacity, all aspects of production done on a single level floor and a small workforce. It was re-designed in 1997 so that one person, if necessary, could run the whole production process.

Braeval has many similarities with its 'sister' distillery Allt A'Bhainne - both were built as efficient plants in the 1970's by the owners of Chivas Brothers (Seagram's at the time), bought and closed by Pernod in the early years of the third millennium and re-opened a few years later. It shares the honour of being the joint highest distillery in Scotland with Dalwhinnie. 

Braeval has steadily grown in capacity and is now home to six stills (two large wash and four smaller spirit) all with thin necks and upward sloping lyne arms helping to generate a lighter style with some floral notes. There are no warehouses on site, with new make being tankered away for cask filling and maturation elsewhere.

Braeval Distillery’s first official bottling was only released in 2017.  Sadly, it was only a 16 year old single cask, which was available exclusively from Chivas’ visitor centres. In 2019, three expressions from Braeval were included in “The Secret Speyside Collection”, which were 25, 27 and 30 year olds, all matured in ex-bourbon barrels and hogsheads.

Let's try two bottles from SMWS:

Dram	2008 9yo [SMWS] An apricot jamboree	2011 7yo [SMWS] Margherita Jägerbomb
Characteristics	Oct '08 - '18 Re-fill ex-bourbon 256 bottles 61.6% ABV NCF Natural colour	Nov '11 - '18 First-fill ex-bourbon 255 bottles 63.7% ABV NCF Natural colour
Distillery notes	Fruit poured from the glass in a vibrant yet balanced stream of apricot jam, apple sauce and ripe plums. A spicy tingle of pink peppercorns delivered fresher notes that carried on to green grass and tomato plants in a greenhouse. A sweet malty character came from digestive biscuits that turned into ginger snap biscuits on the palate as we encountered a pleasing tongue tingle. Melted butter and creamy vanilla introduced custard with a thick wedge of sponge cake. The finish combined strawberries and cream with fruit jelly sweets before softening to a lasting mineralic edge that left the palate feeling clean and refreshed.	An initial aroma of pineapple jelly beans, white stone fruits and freshly laundered linen is balanced by buttery citrus, baking soda and linseed oil. There's distillery smells of hot grist, fermenting wash and sweet cough medicines in the background. Reduction brings sooty and earthy qualities. Lots of linen, white flowers, turmeric, buttered toast, fresh fruit cake, butter biscuits and delicate notes of fennel seed and wax. The unreduced palate offers an initial blast of fruity red chilli heat which is then cut with lime juice, sandalwood, white pepper, orange marmalade, grapefruit-scented solvents, sunflower oil and acid drops dissolving in Jagerbombs. Water brings herbal notes of sage, marjoram and parsley. Some orange and semolina cake with glace lemon peel, miso broth, yellow wild flowers and stewed plums.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up and take an age fall as slow thin legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, take an age to bead up and slow thin legs.
Nose	The ABV attacks straight away, sugared almonds and orchard fruit to start: pears, apricots and plums. There's a huge sweetness, some maltiness and a little smoke note. Some spice is evident on the nose - this is going to need some water!	Again a big hit from the ABV, the sugared almonds are here but the fruit is more tropical: pineapple, kiwi and banana. There's a little hint of smoke and some spice. The SMWS notes of distillery grist and fermenting wash are spot on - a hoppy beer note.
Palate	Thick sweet arrival, syrupy, spicy and with a huge ABV kick. The sugared almonds and smoke are here, the fruit is all tropical with a bite of ginger spice. A few more sips offer crumbly shortbread, dry icing sugar and a grapefruit-like sour citrus note as the liquid disappears. Reducing to c46% with water: grassy notes on the nose and much gentler on the palate. The tropical fruits come to the fore,	Again a thick sweet arrival, syrupy and spicy but the ABV isn't as noticeable even though it's higher - maybe my palate is acclimatising! There's a huge sour grapefruit note, dry icing sugar and a sharp lemon zest bite. The beer note is here on the palate too - a little hoppy hint as the liquid disappears. Reducing to c46% with water: Tropical fruits, cherries and a chewy liquorice allsorts note.
Finish	Lingering fruit, spice, citrus and a little smoke.	Lingering fruit, spice, citrus and a little smoke.
Overall	It's not often I add water to a dram but these two definitely needed it and to be honest were nicer to drink at c46%. A lot of similarities in the 2 bottlings, RF for 9yrs and FF for 7yrs having a similar impact on the spirit. This is as close as you'll get for distillery character from Braeval and it comes across really well - orchard / tropical fruit, sweetness, nuttiness, spice and an interesting little smoke note - I'm not sure that these use any peated barley? The water really affected the FF 7yo - with some interesting cherry and liquorice notes coming through. Nice!