MILTONDUFF 1998 16YO - CHIVAS BROS CASK STRENGTH EDITION

A few miles south west of Elgin in Speyside, we find the Miltonduff Distillery.

Built on the site of an old Benedictine Abbey, its a huge distillery with 16 washbacks and 6 stills and an output of close to 6 million liters of spirit annually.

Miltonduff is one of the cornerstones in the Ballantines Blend. As a single malt, you have to seek out independent bottlings as official ones are few and far between until owners, Chivas Bros/Pernod Ricard decided to include it in their Cask Strength Edition series - so let's give this one a try...

Miltonduff Distillery - picture from Wikimedia Commons

Miltonduff 1998 16yo (06.03.1997/06.08.2014) 52,9%, Batch#MD16004, Chivas Bros Cask Strength Edition, 50cl bottle

Colour is white wine

Nose:

Comes across a bit hot on the nose, but there's also herbs, malt and apple appears there. Short after it gets very grassy and shows hints of pineapple as well...

Taste:
As on the nose its really hot on the palate, not 52,9% hot but another kinda hot, like a spirit cut that's run a bit off... Some pear and vanilla, a green note like biting into a straws of grass. Besides the already mentioned hot notes, it also delivers some else that I can only describe as a mild chili burn along with black pepper.

My palate is not agreeing with this one. It was to hot and I'm thinking it keeps the other notes down, not allowing this one even the slightest chance to shine. It can, however be drunk with a good splash of water - so its not all a waste.

A partial dud, IMO

Finally, thanks to Kalle for the sample

76/100!

MILTONDUFF 1981 - ADELPHI

This will be the first Miltonduff I'll be reviewing here on The Malt Desk.

Miltonduff is one of those distilleries that live its life in relative silence, attention wise - but not production wise - its a big distillery, owned by Pernod Ricard/Chivas and producing whisky for the Ballantines blend.

When I think about it, we rarely see bottlings of Miltonduff around, in spite of a good handful being bottles by the independent bottlers - why, you ask? Well, I guess they fly off the shelves pretty quickly... and that, in my book, is a sign of a quality whisky... oh, and when Miltonduffs do come out, they're also at reasonably prices - at least compared to more famous brands... quality for your hard earned money - there you go... :-)

On my whisky travels I've had Miltonduffs bottled by Gordon & Macphail, a couple of them dark as the night with sherry from both 1968 and 1969 - great whisky! Today, though these bottling have crept up over £300 - but its still less than bottlings from the same vintage from more popular distilleries...  I've also had a couple of the official batches of early 90's from the Chivas Cask Strength Series, which more clearly shows what this distillery has to offer... So do go and try!

For this review though, I'll be going somewhere in between with a 1981 from Adelphi

Bonded warehouses at Miltonduff Distillery - picture from WikiMedia

Miltonduff 1981 32yo, 53,2%, refill ex-bourbon hogshead#5066, 197 bottles, Adelphi

Colour is full straw

Nose:
Oak comes out here very clearly to begin with....
Then it produces some hints of heavy grassy notes and dried ginger, some subdued floral notes and a well rounded sweetness counter balanced by oak nipping on your nostrils. Also some apple'ish notes in there...

Taste:
Pink meringues, that apple again - this time as baked apple crumble, some lemonade, white chocolate ending on strawberry and oranges and a herbal notes.... Wow, what a burst of flavour - but its still kind of all over the place with everything it has to offer and miss some balance here and there.

Very good whisky nevertheless!

86/100!