Tag Archives: Glenburgie

Ballantine’s 17 year Miltonduff 40%

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Next up in a sampling series of Ballantine’s Signature Distillery Collection is the Miltonduff 17 year.

So what do we know about Miltonduff?

Well, it is said to have been established in 1824 and located in the Pluscarden area of Speyside, near an old Abbey. There is a Canadian connect via Hiram Walker’s purchase of the distillery in 1936, along with Glenburgie to produce malt whisky for their blends. At the time they used Lamond Stills which then, in 1981, were replaced with regular pot stills to increase production. Relatively soon thereafter the Hiram Walker stocks were acquired by Allied – its largest distillery at the time. Then in turn, it was further acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2005.

While you won’t readily find too many ‘official’ Miltonduff single malts out there, it has certainly been around and a mainstay for Ballentine’s blends.

Ballentine's Signature Distillery Collection 17 yr - Miltonduff

Ballentine’s Signature Distillery Collection 17 yr – Miltonduff

And what did we find?

Ballantine’s Miltonduff 17 year 40%

  • Nose – Much more complex, cinnamon, cloves, winter berries like cranberry, after airing sweet toffee
  • Taste – Darker, deeper, woodier, sweet and smooth, certainly not complex as it opens up however still rather appealing
  • Finish – Cinnamon candy bite that then mellows out… just continuing the Christmasy feel
  • Water – A drop (please not more!) opened up the sweetness shifting the winter berries to summer raspberries and strawberries
  • Overall – Nicely balanced with everything in harmony. Certainly not complex but still sufficiently worth paying attention to that my gal pal call it a ‘Select’ for her, prompting online searches to buy an independent bottler’s offering when back in the US next week.

We revisited this whisky after about 20 minutes… alas the nose had all but disappeared – leaving mostly a toffee sweetness. However it was a completely comfortable, enjoyable dram. Nothing fancy about it but with the twinkle of the Christmas tree lights and the slight nip in the air (for Mumbai!), it was good enough to prompt after our light sample of all four whiskies a return. Yup! It was the dram of the night for us.

This one had enough going on to prompt a ‘setting’ to sip….

“Cashmere sweater and jeans in front of the fire – comfortable and anti-social but at least you got out of bed today.”

What the Ballantine’s folks had to say:

Its cinnamon spiced notes bring warmth to the Ballantine’s 17 year old blend while its creamy sweet texture forms the foundation of the blend.

And our final thoughts? The very fact that the Miltonduff even made both of us pay attention says something and my fellow taster decided it just might be worth trying to track down a Miltonduff single malt!

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Ballantine’s 17 year Scapa 40%

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Ballantine’s Signature Distillery Collection 17 year are blends… that were designed to show off their component whiskies.

First up in our sampling was the Scapa from the Orkney Islands in the north Highlands, not far from the Highland Park distillery. Of the four Ballantine’s whiskies featured in the Signature Distillery Collection, Scapa has distillery produced single malts – initially a 14 year which was then replaced in 2008 with a 16 year avatar.

While not stated on the label, the gents over at Malt Madness share that Scapa is matured exclusively in bourbon casks. The whisky is unpeated though the water supply is known to be quite peaty, hence is piped for over a kilometre in large iron pipes to keep its more delicate quality.

20151224_Ballantine's Scapa

Ballantine’s Scapa 17 year 40%

What we found:

  • Nose – Piquant, lightly floral, almonds, hint of sea salt, light honey, some hay (sez the country gal whereas the city slicker couldn’t identify), as it aired slipped into a candy sweet with a drizzle of honey suckle
  • Taste – Woody, earthier version of the nose, following the hay back to its roots
  • Finish – Slight bite but general continuity of the nose and palate
  • Comments – “Sweetness & light, rainbows & butterflies” “A demure romp in a meadow”
  • Occasion – The kind of whisky you have when you want something light in the background but not requiring any focused attention.

Quite drinkable, linear nose, flavour and finish however all aligned and overall pleasant.

I will be honest, I expected something with a bit more of a maritime feel… When you think Orkney Islands, you think of sea spray from a wild remote corner. I recalled an earlier sampling of the Scapa 16 year it had more of that element… plus a distinctive heathery honey.

While I supposed we could morph the hay quality with the perfume notes into something in spitting distance of ‘heather’ and it certainly had the honey, we didn’t find the fruity quality the Ballantine’s folks describe or what I remembered from sampling its single malt cousin.

Here’s what the chaps over at Master of Malt have to say about this one:

  • Nose: The nose is fruity and floral with icing sugar scattered on top.
  • Palate: The palate develops orange zestiness with fleshy stone fruit flavours, notably peach.
  • Finish: The finish is creamy and smooth with hint of nectarine and Seville orange segments.
  • Overall: Another excellent seventeen year old Ballantine’s intriguingly displaying a stronger Scapa character.

Would I say it represents a ‘Scapa’ style or its contribution to Ballantine’s? Hmm…. It is easy to see why most of this whisky goes into a blend. It has a restrained quality that would play well with other profiles.

As for this expression? Does it stand on its own as a credible blend? It was ‘nice’ and definitely drinkable. However would I run out and buy a full bottle? Nope… just not my kinda whisky.

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Ballantine’s Signature Distillery Collection 17 year Scapa, Miltonduff, Glenburgie, Glentauchers

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Is it a blend? A single malt? Clearly Ballantine’s Signature Distillery Collection are blends… yet are they the slippery slope of introducing loyal blend fans to single malts? Or trying to woo promiscuous single malt explorers to the land of blends by enticing with ‘showcasing’ Ballantine’s ‘iconic malts’?

My curiosity got the better of me…. so picked up this sample pack in Singapore and cracked it open a cool December evening with a merry malt mistress!

Here’s what they have to say about their special Ballantine’s 17 year olds:

Ballantine's Signature Distillery Collection 17 year

Ballantine’s Signature Distillery Collection 17 yr

Ballantine’s Scapa 17 year 40%

Its rich sweet top dressing contributes to the initial burst of fruity and floral flavours providing the Ballantine’s 17 year Old blend with incredibly smooth, rare and delicate notes.

Ballantine’s Miltonduff 17 year 40%

Its cinnamon spiced notes bring warmth to the Ballantine’s 17 year old blend while its creamy sweet texture forms the foundation of the blend.

Ballantine’s Glenburgie 17 year 40%

Its fruity, floral and rich-flavoured malt sits at the heart of the original Ballantine’s 17 year old blend.

Ballantine’s Glentauchers 17 year 40%

Its delicate fruit and rich nutty flavours form the Ballantine’s 17 year old blend’s long sweet and smooth finish.

Here is what they say about their standard Ballantine’s 17 year:

  • Nose – Deep, balanced, elegant and smooth with hints of sweet vanilla, oak and a sensation of smoke
  • Taste – Full and complex, vibrant honey sweetness and creamy vanilla flavours with hints of oak and spicy liquorice
  • Body – Full, creamy, luscious
  • Character – Creamy, harmonious & oak-sweetness
  • Colour – Clear, golden amber
  • Finish – Long, sweet and smooth with a hint of spice

What did we find? Ah… you will just have to check out the links to the different expressions:

Ballantine's Signature Whiskies

Ballantine’s Signature Whiskies

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The ‘Downton Abbey’ of whiskies – Glenburgie 15 year 43% (Gordon + MacPhail)

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Glenburgie is another one of those Speyside distilleries that you’ve likely had before in a blend, just didn’t know it! Ever had Ballantine’s? If so, you’ve had plenty of Glenburgie whisky!
20151119_Glenburgie 15
As usual, we sampled blind then revealed the whisky.
Glenburgie 15 year 43% (Gordon & MacPhail)
  • Colour – Pale honey
  • Nose – Lots of honey, overripe fruit, dry
  • Palate – Very smooth, well-rounded, buttery, sweet spice… did we mention smooth??
  • Finish – Quite peculiar and tough to pin down initially, bitter dark chocolate, a bit like a dry chardonnay, dusky
  • Water – Um… I think we forgot to try….
  • Speculation – Sense of being a whisky that may typically be used in a blend
  • Comments – A perfect example of a whisky that is light yet complex, like the ‘Downton Abbey’ of whisky, there is a certain elegance and style

The hit of the evening? The Glenburgie though the Aultmore was also both interesting and enjoyable. Absolutely nothing wrong with the Hibiki however nothing exceptional either – just a rather pleasant dram.

However it once again reminded us – Yup – blindly just buy Gordon & MacPhail. Period. And just to re-inforce, our host pulled out the Mortlach 15 year to revisit.

Another member noted that the bottle indicates this Glenburgie was ’selected, produced & bottled’ by Gordon & MacPhail with the ‘produced’ element not standard statement in Gordon & MacPhail bottlings. Hmm…

Naturally, this prompted interest in comparing the Gordon & MacPhail Aultmore 14 year (2000) with the Aultmore 18 year we just sampled.
The other whiskies sampled in our November session included:

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Whisky double trouble

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A funny thing is starting to happen… as our original whisky tasting group looks forward to our 5th year together, we are beginning to do a little inadvertent duplication.

As our practice is to rotate hosts with each host responsible for curating the evening, not disclosing the whiskies procured for our sampling pleasure until after we have tasted blind, it means we do not coordinate with each other to ensure we aren’t buying the same or similar thing.

At the time of the reveal, we are now occasionally hearing ‘Oh’ in a different tone as the whisky just tried was already acquired for a forthcoming session by another member. That happened in August with the Bruichladdich The Organic Scottish Barley 50%.

However for those that are similar, rather than exactly the same, it means we can play around with interesting comparisons… and in the coming months we will have opportunities to do just that!

Hibiki Harmony, Aultmore 18, Glenburgie 15

Hibiki Harmony, Aultmore 18, Glenburgie 15

For example, November’s three whiskies included:

Why is that remarkable?

We had just sampled the Aultmore 15 year bottled by Gordon & MacPhail the previous month… and here was another Aultmore. Naturally we have asked the hosts from both sessions to bring along both bottles to our next tasting in January!

And now that I have the delightful Whisky Ladies group too, that provides scope for even more such comparisons! Between the two whisky tasting groups, I was able to put side-by-side the distillery release of Caol Ila 12 year next to a Gordon & MacPhail Caol Ila 12 year.

For those of you part of a whisky tasting group, how do you acquire whiskies and organise your sessions?

And do you sometimes get that ‘Oh!’ of duplication or ‘Oooh!’ for another opportunity to do a different kind of comparison?

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