Tag: Highland
Gordon & MacPhail Millburn 27-Year
There’s few things that I enjoy quite as much as exploring the story behind a dram of whisky. My favorite glasses of whisky are those that lead you down a storied path, learning something new about a distillery, or about how a particular scotch was made, some tidbit of its history. The whisky ends up being enhanced by the tapestry of its story.
This was an especially good dram in this regard, as I got to thumb through two (2!) of my favorite books on scotch while digging into it: Misako Udo’s The Scotch Whisky Distilleries and Brian Townsend’s Scotch Missed: The Lost Distilleries of Scotland. Both are great books, and Misako Udo’s is a must have for all those who are serious about their drams. Millburn was shut down in 1985 after almost two centuries of distilling, and since then most of its buildings have been demolished. So here we have a true artifact of history, a bottle of whisky distilled in 1976 from a distillery that closed less than a decade later, and whose whisky is on the endangered species list today.
Millburn’s roots date far back into Scotland’s whisky history. It was originally established around 1805, first licensed as a distillery in 1825, and passed through the hands of 9 different owners before being purchased by Andrew Haig who renamed it the Millburn Distillery Company in 1904. Haig sold the distillery in 1921, shortly before a fire destroyed most of the buildings the following year. Here’s a recounting from Udo’s book:
When a major blaze stuck [in 1922], soldiers from nearby Cameron Barracks helped to extinguish the fire. They managed to save both the stillhouse and the warehouse. Coincidentally, the 3rd Battalion of the Camerons who saved the distillery was led by Lieutenant Colonel David Price-Haig who had just sold the distillery.
The fire didn’t slow the distillery down for too long, and after being rebuilt it operated continuously until being purchased by DCL in 1943. The next 40 years passed uneventfully, until the distillery was closed in 1985, as part of a series of closures resulting from a downturn in the scotch whisky market.
Townsend writes that,
It could be argued that Millburn had ceased to be viable with the arrival of the new, custom-built automated distilleries of the 1970s and 1980s. It was on a small cramped sight at Diriebught, hemmed in on virtually all sides by steep hill, road and river. Expansion was not possible and, with the growth of Inverness, it sat in an urban rather than a semi-rural setting. Its whisky, although good, was relatively obscure as a single malt. Its equipment and outbuildings were also outdated and too small. Its closure in hindsight was inevitable.
Millburn was a distillery from another time, one that is harder and harder to picture now. A time when distilleries produced their own malt, when each distillery had their own staff of coopers to build and repair barrels, when much of the work was done by hand, and when distillery workers were given daily rations of whisky while on the job. Here’s a couple of stories from Ian Macilwain’s Bottled History:
Back in my lorry driving days I was up at the distillery to take the last load of draff out for the year. There was two with mouth organs and another two dancing the Highland fling in the middle of the malt floor at three in the afternoon! They were well gone. The manager just walked past and ‘didn’t see’. There was never anything said. Things like that would never happen now.
…
So Robbie came round with the big copper flagon and the horn, which is just a measure. It was new-made spirit, called clearic. Everybody working at that area lined up by the sink, put on the cold water tap and Robbie filled it up. I went to the back of queue, as I wasn’t sure what they were on! So they poured in the measure with the horn, into the first glass, the first lad cowped it back, in below the cold water tap, cowped it back, gave it a swirl and handed the glass back to the next one. And back it came and back it came to me. I was thinking, ‘God I’m nae sure about this,’ because I wasn’t a drinker and it was strong stuff. I saw they’d all just put it back in a ‘wunner’ so I thought, here goes…Before I got the water I choked. Robbie asked me something and I was trying to answer him – he says, ‘Hold it up again,’ and I thought it was an initiation, that I had to do two of these! So he fills it up again, fills up the horn, pours it into the glass, and I’m looking at it and he grabs it out of my hand and says, ‘Aye, it’s a poor ship that can’nae carry the captain.’ He probably had one along with the stillman on the way through and then he had another one along at hour end. What a man he was. He lived into his 90s so it didn’t do him any ill!
By the way, Bottled History is another phenomenal book, combining beautiful images of historic distilleries with quotes from the men who used to work at them, such as those two above.
Millburn is from this part of history, before the rationalization and consolidation of brands that we see today. Anytime you get to taste a whisky from a closed distillery it’s an exciting opportunity. It’s like tasting a bit of history.
Tasting Notes
Millburn was a Highland distillery, and this is very much in the style of Highland whiskies. As I said above, this was distilled in 1976, and is from cask #1598, bottled by Gordon & MacPhail at 46%.
The color is light gold, with the merest of auburn highlights. The nose has elements of beeswax, honey, fresh-cut grass, sugared lemons, and brioche. Sweet-smelling with a fresh, ‘first rays of sun in the morning’ feel to it. The palate is softly textured, with a warming flintiness. Flavors of sugar cookies, buttered muffins, almonds, pie dough, and a hint of citrus, underscored by a surprising thread of smoke. As though your neighbor over the hill has lit a fire in the chimney on the first really cold day of fall, and the smell of the wood fire mingles with the evening’s breeze. The finish wraps things up nicely, with hints of licorice, marzipan, and a persistent faint smokiness.
A very nice whisky, made that much more special by the story lying behind it, and the stories that it leads you to turn up. Highly recommended. As I said, this distillery’s been closed for 25 years, so time is running out to track down a bottle.
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Signatory Ben Nevis 1992 16-Year Cask-Strength Collection
Signatory is a whisky bottler that I’ve been tasting a number of very interesting malts from recently. They have two lines that I’ve been tasting whiskies from, their cask-strength and single-barrel offerings.
The single-barrel offerings have been interesting, and have included both sherry and bourbon casks. Each bottling is reduced to ~43%. Interestingly, many of these feature a very similar quality, a sort of soft luster, similar to old Hollywood films where they would use soft-focus when shooting close-ups of star actresses. These Signatory whiskies all tend to have this overtly pleasant, approachable element to them. They’re quite tasty and enjoyable, but not necessarily thought-provoking.
The cask-strength (often also single-barrel) whiskies are another beast entirely. Each is a pretty unique expression of the distillery in question, and the flavor spectrum tends to be rather dynamic and interesting. The whiskies bottled in their teens have been fairly exciting, and the older whiskies a bit more austere and difficult to approach. But all in all, a pretty good series of whiskies, highly recommended.
This bottle of Ben Nevis is from the latter series. The distillery is owned by the Nikka Whisky Distilling Company of Japan, who are themselves well-known for the whiskies they produce in their home country. Founded in 1820, Ben Nevis went on to become the first distillery to produce both malt and grain whisky when a Coffey still was installed in 1955. Today, Ben Nevis produces only malt whisky, to the tune of approximately 2 million liters per year. Bourbon, sherry, and French wine casks are used for aging.
This bottling is from a sherry butt, and is bottle 54 of 550. It was distilled on 7/3/1992 and bottled 16 years later on 8/15/2008. As I said, it’s cask-strength, weighing in at 54.6%.
Tasting Notes
The whisky is coppery gold in the glass, with some very nice, compelling beading along the edge. The nose is sweet and fruity, with rich, woody, sherried notes, maple syrup, and an undercurrent of citrus. The palate has a beguiling, mouth-coating texture, and is powerful and a bit overwhelming at full strength. The flavors are rich and sweet, with brown sugar, candied apples, rum-soaked fruit, a whiff of smoke, and a hint of citrus. The finish is long-lasting and spellbinding, with incredible notes of oak, creme brulee, caramelized turbinado sugar, and brown sugar syrup.
All in all, a great whisky. It took a fair amount of water to tame, but afterwards was both gentle and rich in the glass. Like I said, Signatory’s been bottling some very nice whiskies as part of this cask-strength line, and I’d highly recommend giving them a roll next time you’re on the hunt for a tasty malt to add to your collection.
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Signatory Deanston 9 Year
Much like Linkwood, which I wrote about a few days ago, Deanston is one of those malts that you don’t often encounter, and probably less often think about. It is rarely encountered as a single malt, and even the blends that it contributes to are probably little to known to folks in the U.S. (“Black Prince”, “Scottish Leader”, and “Burberry”). The distillery itself is very young (relative to most of the scottish distilleries), only having begun distilling in 1966, and with the first single malt having been released in 1971.
So I guess that it is no surprise that Deanston is a malt that you rarely find from independent bottlers. And yet, the distillery itself, situated in the very southern area of the Highlands region, produces 3 million liters of whisky each year, of which about 15% goes to single malt bottlings. The only consistent distillery bottling is a 12-year old that you can find both here in the states and abroad.
And this bottling from Signatory is the only independent bottler offering that I’ve seen of late. The SMWS has bottled Deanston off and on in the past, but it has been a while. And so, much as with the Linkwood, I was quite flushed at the opportunity to taste a sample from this bottling.
As I mentioned, Deanston is a Highland distillery, located in the south very close to the Highland-Lowland divide. The distillery was founded in 1966, and since then has passed through the hands of a couple of owners, finally ending up with Burn Stewart Distillers, owners of Tobermory and Bunnahabhain. The whisky produced here is entirely unpeated and designed to be a lightly-styled Highland malt. In other words, flavorful and with body, but not smoky or overpowering.
This particular bottling comes from refill sherry butt #05/617. It was distilled on March 7, 1996, and bottled on July 9, 2005, making this 9 years of age. This bottle is number 234 of 421, and weighs in at 43%.
The color is light gold with a dull, burnished luster. The nose has caramel candies and a slightly sweet astringency, with hints of raspberries and cherries, and scents reminiscent of hot-toddies. The palate is soft and warming, a bit hot with youth and alcohol. Buttered rum and brown sugar cookies are predominant, underscored by a backbone of maltiness. The whisky certainly shows its age in the fiery edge that kicks in at the back of the palate. The finish is somewhat limited in scope, but very pleasant all the same, the hot alcohol which kicks in at the end of the palate carries over into the finish, accompanied by flavors of melted butter and brown sugar, simple sugars, and a hint of red wine that floats around to keep everything company.
This is a nice whisky, very warming and welcome for a winter evening. It is uncomplicated, and this is definitively a good thing, in that you can drink this whisky without having to overthink it, and without feeling guilty about just downright enjoying it. I can’t say that it makes me want to go out and find more bottles of Deanston in the way that the recent Linkwood bottling did, but this is definitely an enjoyable whisky.
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