Miltonduff Distillery, Scotland     founded: 1824 | active
For more detailed mapping of the distilleries in the area from our whisky map page, use this link.

Fruity and perhaps a little musty, with melons, pear drops, California raisins, apricots and apple juice forming a team known only as "Fruitronic", whilst coffee, damp woodland and tobacco are all giving it some for Team Musty... before battle, the two teams feast on sweet treats of honey, Cointreau, honeycomb, molasses and Crunchie bars. Once the fighting is over, the wounds are carefully washed with a little rose water and patched up with some plasters... who knows who the victor was, it's a fictional battle between flavours, logic doesn't really apply.

An eclectic and interesting mix of flavours presented themselves in the mouth: mustard, sun-blushed tomatoes, sugar snap peas, cucumber, blue cheese and coriander made for a good savoury quotient, whilst orange rind, roses, sticky toffee pudding, flambéed raisins, chili jam, (heather) honey, dates and fruit pastilles headed up the sweet opposition. The mustiness from the nose has mostly been replaced by this sweetness whilst the fruitiness prevails, along with the rose flavours, this time helped along the way with beeswax instead of plasters.

Length was split wide open between tasters, with long, medium and short all offered up... on average, this one comes out at medium-long ("a thoughtful hug"). Sea salt and seaweed introduce a new saltiness to proceedings and burnt straw, crackers and old mead bring back a bit of the mustiness from the nose. Fermented lemon juice and baklava show the variety available after it's gone, whilst perfume by mistake adds in a bit of scented confusion to wrap things up.

~£53 (70cl)

WhiskyBase: Miltonduff 1998   |   http://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies.php?merkid

We've always scored out of 10 in our group (see number in red box, below), with scores regularly given across that spectrum. The value out of 100 below is adjusted to the scale most commonly used for whisky reviews, to allow for better comparison.

68 / 100