Lloyd's Whisky Syndicate N°13 - Miltonduff 13yo

AROMA

THE DISTILLERY

Although officially licensed in 1824, the history of the Miltonduff can be traced as far back as the 13^th century with the founding of Pluscarden Abbey, situated approximately 10km away from Elgin in the Speyside region of Scotland. Lore has it that the Miltonduff distillery is located on the grounds where the abbey’s old meal mill used to stand.

At the time of its official launch, the Miltonduff distillery had the peculiarity of being one of the few distillers to use triple distillation as opposed to the more usual double.

Over the next century the distillery would change owner several times until it was acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2004 together with the Allied Domecq portfolio of distilleries. At present, the distillery produces approximately 5.5m litres of spirit per annum, which is almost entirely used for blending. Just like Glentauchers which we covered in our 10^th syndicate, Miltonduff is also a key ingredient in the hugely popular Ballantines franchise.

Fun fact, throughout the 1960s and early 1970s the distillery also produced a second brand of slightly peated whisky called Mosstowie using a pair of Lomond stills which were removed in 1974 to make way for the expansion and further industrialization of the distillery.

Six pot stills are used in the production of Miltonduff. Mosstowie was distilled using a pair of Lomond stills, which had a regular 'pot' at the bottom of the still, but the straight necks of the stills consisted of three plates, which could be used separately. This allowed a variety of different kinds of flavor of malt to be made, without having to construct new stills.

THE WHISKY

This particular expression of Miltonduff was aged for 13 years in a 1^st fill bourbon barrel.

The whisky reminds us of the process of baking a cake. On the nose it has notes of shortcrust, lemon custard and cocoa butter. They are followed by spices such as ginger, white pepper and nutmeg – Christmas cake anyone?

On the palate the whisky lit memories of foggy autumn days in the countryside. The finale brings up herbal notes that the pipe smokers among you may associate with oriental tobacco blends.