A year ago I ordered two “Regions” sets from Whisky Warehouse No 8 with the intention to enjoy together at some point… then we decided to include another friend and I went to order a 3rd set… alas not all of the original whiskies were the same! We both had the Speyside region represented by Miltonduff however they couldn’t be more contrasting!

My friends sampled the Miltonduff 11 years (8 Feb 1995 – 30 Oct 2015) Bourbon Hogshead 59.5% 363 Bottles…

Whereas the new set included the Miltonduff 14 year (Jun 2007 – July 2021) WW8 76 1st Fill Px Sherry Octave 50.4% (76 bottles).

Gotta admit, I think I hit the jackpot on this one – the PX Sherry was fabulous whereas my friends were not quite so enthusiastic about their ex-Bourbon Hogshead. What did I find?

• Colour – Dark amber
• Nose – Stewed apples with cinnamon and brown sugar, ginger and toffee, roofsa (rose), sweetly sour.. incredibly inviting
• Palate – Wow! What an intense burst of flavours! All you would expect from a great sherry matured whisky – full-bodied, dark fruits and berries, chocolate, salty toffee… ginger marmalade… all swirling around in an indulgent smooth dram
• Finish – And what a finish! Fabulous… simply fabulous…

I thoroughly enjoyed this one. It had that satisfying “proper” classic whisky quality. This is the kind of dram you’d love to curl up with on a quiet evening after coming in from the cold.

With this whiskey you probably look at the label and rub your eyes in amazement. Because from a Bourbon barrel maturation one normally expects a much leaner, less voluminous whiskey than this Miltonduff, which is not stingy with its charms. In a blind tasting, it would probably have passed as a wine-barrel-aged whiskey due to its fruity notes and the pastry / biscuit relationship.

• Odor: Ripe fruity, almost creamy and a bit nutty, freshly baked sponge cake that still looks a bit doughy, grainy, and vanilla-like, there is even a trace of smoke in the background.
• Taste: Again fruity and doughy biscuit, grainy. But now there are also spicy notes such as orange pepper, a little cardamom and a hint of sweet licorice, wood aromas from ripening are still cautious. With dilution, more nutty aromas appear again.
• Aftertaste: It is mainly the spicy notes that come to the fore in the aftertaste and now there is also a maltiness that was previously hidden.

What else did we have in our WW8 Regions set:

• Highland – Deanston 10 year (Sep 2009 – Oct 2019) Bourbon Barrel 57.3%
• Lowland – Port Dundas 10 year (26 Oct 2009 – 31 Oct 2019) Refill Sherry 47.9%
• Islay – Braon Peat Batch 7 (15 April 2019) 57.5% or Highland – Inchfad 14 year (Feb 2005 / Apr 2019) WW8 438 Bourbon Cask 55.5%