Miltonduff 10 year old (Gordon & MacPhail)

Lately, I have been sampling quite a few single malts from independent bottlers.  Why?  The answer is simple.  They offer an opportunity to try single malts from obscure distilleries that often end up in famous blended Scotch whiskies.  The range of flavour profiles is astounding and the chances of discovering a diamond in the rough for a fraction of the price of a similar quality malt released by the big multinational drinks companies is pretty good too!

Independent bottlers just seem to be hitting it out of the ballpark for me as of late.  Because they typically do not own a distillery, they buy the new make spirit that is excess or unwanted by distilleries.  Sometimes these spirits have a flaw or are a bit off in terms of the house style of a distillery and so they find a home with the independent bottler.  These bottlers are generally old firms that have a huge inventory of casks in all shapes and sizes, and experienced staff who sample the spirit regularly till its deemed ready to bottle.  Expert wood management coupled with the right amount of aging and good judgment can transform an otherwise mediocre spirit into a thing of beauty.

What I have before me is a bottle from the independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail.  While they do own a distillery (Benromach), the bottle before me is not from there.  They have purchased some spirit from a little known distillery, Miltonduff.

Miltonduff is a Speyside distillery that has been in operation since the early 19th century.  Today, it produces about 4 million litres a year and most of the production is destined for eventual inclusion as the malt whisky component of the well-known, blended Scotch, Ballantine's Finest, which by the way, I absolutely despise.   Ballantine's flavor profile can be summarized as Alpenweiss box wine, Fresca and black pepper, suitable as windshield washer fluid only.  If I had known this tidbit of how Miltonduff is used, I probably would not have picked up this G&M release.  But, such is fate.  Sometimes we make decisions (career, marriage, purchase a Mercedes, etc.) without being fully informed.

Gordon & MacPhail have several different 'ranges' of releases.  Some expensive and rare and others not.  I opt for the latter.  The Miltonduff 10 year old is from the Discovery range.  The aim of this range is to serve as an introduction to the portfolio of classic Scotch flavor profiles:  'sherry', 'smoky' and 'bourbon.'  Our little ol' bottle of Miltonduff is the 'sherry' representative.  I am surprised as Ballantine's Finest is not a sherried dram.  But, then I remember in such a blend Miltonduff is one of a great many single malts, and who knows the proportion of malt.  Miltonduff might be only added in relatively small amounts to the blend in comparison with other single malts.

Age Statement
10 years.

Price (in Canada)
$110 (so, not exactly cheap)

Format
700ml.

Closure
Cork stopper.

Color?
Natural!  No E150a.

Chill-filtration?
Yes.  I confirmed this with Mr. Bill Somerville, Brand Ambassador for Gordon & MacPhail in Canada.

ABV
43%

Nose (undiluted)
Distinct sherry, cracked leather, vanilla, summer flowers of roses and peonies.

Palate (undiluted)
A dry, rich, sherry bomb, exotic milk chocolate, hint of mint and spices, fruitcake, rum cake, raisins and toffee.

Finish (undiluted)
Medium length of chocolate, waxen raspberry, melted caramel, dry oak, black grapes.

General Impressions
This is good!  The price is not cheap, but I have absolutely no buyer's remorse.

This bottle exhibits impressive complexity when you first open the bottle.  However, once the bottle has been open a while, the oxidation makes it more sherried and less complex.  Still a good dram for sure, just not as complex.

While the youngest whisky in the bottle is a mere ten years, it certainly seems to have others that are far older.  Gordon & MacPhail have accomplished what they set out to do, namely present a classic sherried Speysider.  Frankly, I prefer this release to its peers: Glenfarclas 12 and GlenDronach.  It might be a little less refined than say Macallan 12, but I really need to do a side-by-side to decide.  If you like sherry bombs with interesting nuances, you will love Miltonduff 10 years.  Highly recommended!

Cheers,



Jason Debly

Whisky Review: Glentauchers 1994 by Gordon & MacPhail

The Glentauchers Distillery was established in 1897 or 1898 depending on which textbook you consult or website you land on.  Being such an old distillery and having an output of around 3 million litres annually, you would expect this distillery would enjoy a bit of brand-name recognition.  Not so.  I had never heard of it either till I laid my eyes on a bottle during a recent visit to my local liquor emporium with fellow whisky dawg, Ken.  Our mission was to buy some obscure bottling for our next whisky club meeting.

Sitting proudly on the shelf was a bottle of Glentauchers, but this whisky was not released by the distillery as an official bottling.  Instead, Gordon & MacPhail had bought up some Glentauchers 'new-make' spirit, poured it into their own casks, maybe let it remain at the distillery warehouse for further aging or moved it to their storage facilities.  I don't know as this independent bottler is not about to give away their tricks of the trade.  Nevertheless, G&M saw potential in the 1994 distillation of Glentauchers single malt and felt with just the right amount of aging in their choice of casks they just might have a winner.  They bottled it in 2014 and out to market it went.

Just another quick note about Glentauchers.  While you are not familiar with the name, you probably have tasted it in the past, well, at least as a component single malt added to blended Scotch whiskies like Ballantine's Finest, Teacher's Highland Cream and Black & White.  The only time the distillery had an official release of the single malt to the public was in 2000 and that was a 15 year old edition.

Price
$125 Canadian

Distilled
1994

Bottled 
2014

ABV
43%

Format
700ml

Closure
Natural cork stopper

Region
Speyside

Cask Type
Sherry butts and remade American hogsheads.

Nose (undiluted)
A little peat, very little tickles the nose before some orange and lime peel and lemon pulp appear.  Pleasant.

Palate (undiluted)
Sweet lemon meringue, oak, soft vanilla, pineapple chunks with lots of citrus notes, especially lemon and ruby red grapefruit.

Finish (undiluted)
Apricot, star fruit, light treatment of sherry, drying, balsa wood.

General Impressions
If I had to sum up the taste of this Speyside single malt in a word, it would be: grapefruit.  It tastes like ruby red grapefruit juice.  It is also sweet with some drying sensation on the finish.  The malt is cleansing and light.  A dessert whisky.  If you like Glenkinchie, Balblair, Glenmorangie Nectar D'OR and other sweet light whiskies then this is in your wheelhouse my friend.

Criticisms?  Maybe not overly complex.  The flavors are not simple, but not exhibiting any 'wow' factor.  Nicely balanced and pleasing, it goes down incredibly easy and before you know it, half the bottle is gone.  Trouble is, this goes for $125 a bottle (not $140 as I mistakenly stated in my video review), and at that price point, this is not quaffing whisky.  I would happily pay $75 to $80, but again, north of $100 is just too much.  Damn those prices!  Ah well, it is what it is.

Cheers!


Jason Debly

P.S.  As stated above Glentauchers is principally used for blending and functions well in that capacity, but on its own, it does not sparkle.  A blender's malt for sure.

Review: Glenburgie Single Malt Scotch 10 years - Gordon & MacPhail

When you hear the words "Scotch whisky" you probably think "Glenlivet" or "Glenfiddich" or maybe just visualize the iconic green triangular Glenfiddich bottle. Of course, there are so many other distilleries, even ones that start with the first four letters: Glen . . . but then you draw a blank having never heard of them.

You probably have never heard of "Glenburgie," but you may actually already be familiar with it. Glenburgie is a little known Speyside distillery that produces a lot of malt whisky for some blended Scotch whiskies that are household names: Chivas Regal 12 years, Ballantine's Finest, Old Smuggler.

It is always an enjoyable exercise to try the core malts that make up famous blends to see if the malts are better on their own.

I was able to try Glenburgie because the independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail have released a 10 year old, which I picked up for the very reasonable price of $44 in Canada. In the US, you will get this much cheaper.

'Independent bottlers' are companies that typically do not own distilleries, but still manage to have a hand in bringing to market great single malts. These companies buy up stocks of surplus malt from various distilleries, age them in various casks, and then bottle when they consider the malt is at its zenith. Some of these companies do a brilliant job in this regard. Gordon & MacPhail is one of them.

By way of astute cask selection, aging in their own warehouses, Gordon & MacPhail is able to take what was a mediocre or subpar malt and transform it into an interesting and sometimes even marvelous single malt.

They have succeeded with Glenburgie 10 years.

Nose
Malty, cereal, warm apple pie.

Palate
Sweet entry of baklava/marzipan, vanilla, oatmeal with a dash of brown sugar.

Finish
Florida oranges, crisp red grape skins, lemon zest.

General Impressions
Great value for money here.  A little complexity too!  Virtually no peat or smoke, so if you are a novice whisky fan who is put off by Islay malts, rest assured Glenburgie is a traditional Speysider that will not offend. Smooth, not offensive, very quaffable malt that starts sweet but nicely transitions and become drying by time of the finish.

Highly recommended!

Cheers!


Jason Debly