A 1773 cadastral map reveals that the site of Brackla Distillery (founded 1812) once housed a 'malt distillery.' The founder, Captain William Fraser of Brackla, was a fiery gentleman who, prior to the 1821 parliamentary committee, vigorously combated smuggling in the region ('last year not even 100 gallons of whisky were sold within a 12-mile radius, though people drank nothing but whisky'), and was repeatedly fined by Customs & Excise throughout the 1830s for undisclosed offenses! Despite this, Fraser was granted a Royal Warrant by King William IV in 1835, becoming the first distiller to receive this honor. Edinburgh's Andrew Usher & Company was appointed agent around 1844 and became a partner. After 1860, a small quantity of Brackla (1/24th!) was blended into their 'Usher's O.V.G.' blend. In 1890, when the Earl of Cawdor renewed the lease to Robert Fraser & Company, the other two partners were Andrew Usher Jr. and his brother John Usher. That same year, they rebuilt the distillery together. Following Andrew Usher's death in 1898, the company became Brackla Distillery Company Ltd. In 1926, Aberdeen's John Bisset & Company Ltd acquired the lease, selling the distillery to S.M.D. in 1943. Between 1964-1965, the distillery underwent major renovation, installing a second still and converting all four stills to steam heating. Royal Brackla was mothballed from 1985 to 1991, but resumed production in 1991, and in 1997 underwent a £2 million renovation—just in time before being packaged with John Dewar & Sons and sold to Bacardi the following year.

Royal Brackla distillery is located on the Cawdor Estate, made famous by Shakespeare's Macbeth, and the 'Thane of Cawdor' remains the current Earl of Cawdor today. The play's setting is the rolling coastal plain between Inverness and Forres (see 'Glenburgie'). Since Captain Fraser could not sell his whisky locally, he placed an advertisement in the 1828 Aberdeen Journal stating he had arranged to transport this 'much-admired spirit' to Aberdeen by land carriage, with regular weekly supply. Alfred Barnard noted in 1887 that 'the whisky was conveyed by traction engine to a station six miles distant, and the return journey brought coal from Nairn.' Brackla boasts the longest fermentation times in the industry: an average of 80 hours, with short runs at 72 hours and long runs extending to 120 hours. Little Royal Brackla was owner-bottled until 2014, after which Dewar's rebranded the packaging and introduced a range of age-stated expressions.