A Miltonduff 1966 from the legendary independent bottler Sestante (ceased around 1990). That should say something right? It scores quite high on Whiskybase and I have also read some great reviews. So I was very happy to open this bottle during Christmas 2016, in a lineup with some other beautiful drams. That evening it was definitely one of the best drams I’ve had. It’s actually a shame that I didn’t take the time to review this great whisky before!
This Miltonduff has matured in a sherry cask for 22 years and is bottled at 58,4% ABV.
Miltonduff 1966 tasting notes:
Nose: Red sliced apples, fresh ripe pears, red fruits like strawberries, red cherries and a faint smell of raspberries. Some apricots and maybe a touch of orange marmelade. All those beautiful scents, I love it! There is something in the nose that you will not find in modern whiskies, this is old school all right. You got to love this!
Taste: Mouth coating with marmelade, apricots and apples. It’s not so outspoken as the nose though. A bit restrained but still lovely! Some honey sweetness but it definitely has some kind of bitterness too. I would say it’s because of the wood but I am not sure. A fruity mustiness so to speak and then towards a bitter and salty flavour. Reminds me of christmas cake drenched in cognac. Some figs and chocolate too. Or even bitter cookies at the bottom of a pudding.
Finish: The finish is mid-long to long, a good sweetness that reminds me of apple syrup. A tad too bitter at some point but then it quickly goes back to apple syrup sweetness. It has some dark chocolate aspects that are close to pure cacoa, but it never gets dry in the finish.
Great, just great. I could have scored this much higher if the taste was more pronounced, but with 92 points in my book this is one of the highest scoring whiskies I tried so far. It’s really good and it has certainly lived up to my expectations. I think this has become even better now that the bottle has been open for awhile.
