Is Miltonduff underappreciated? I couldn’t really tell you. One thing is for sure: owners Pernod Ricard are in no hurry to promote Miltonduff as a single malt. You’ll have to turn to the independent bottlers if you want your Miltonduff-fix.
In this blog I’ll try my hand on a young Miltonduff 2006 9 Years Old from a first fill sherry hogshead. It’s is bottled by The Whisky Chamber, a small German bottler. Most of their bottlings never leave Germany. Judging by the color of this whisky, the cask influence on the spirit is enormous.
Miltonduff 2006 9 Years Old (59,6%, The Whisky Chamber, C#900873)
Nose: Dry sherry and lots of wood is basically all I’m getting at first. There’s some dark chocolate, cocoa powder and brown sugar as well. Adding water makes it sweeter, somewhat candy-esque.
Taste: Spices (pepper, cloves) and big, overpowering notes of sherry, lots of kirsch gateau and also a fair amount of gun powder. Very dry. With water it becomes more spicy and more dry.
Finish: Long, dry, spicy.
Rating: 79
An imperfect, overly sherried Miltonduff. I know some people go nuts for this kind of over the top, sherry matured whisky. To me this is just extremely unbalanced.
