Whisky: Miltonduff 26 Year (1980), AD Rattray

Country/Region: Scotland/Speyside

ABV: 49.1%

Cask: Bourbon Barrel

Age: 26 Years (Distilled 16 Sept. 1980, Bottled 23 Feb. 2007)

Nose: Musty, floral, cream, patchouli, orange rind, rose, cardamon, baked plums, black sugar, old bamboo.

Palate: Medium-bodied with musty flower garden, rose, baked plums, apricot, date, hints of cream, bergamot, musty attic, birch bark, orange rind, and a touch of mint.

Finish: Medium-length with hibiscus, cream, and orange.

Score: 7

Mental Image: Potpourri Cream Soda

Narrative & Notes: Initially musty and floral, the aroma offered cream and patchouli before bitter-sweet orange rind, cardamon, and rose arrived. A floral creaminess lingered as brown sugar, baked plums, and upside-down cake emerged with an undercurrent of woody old bamboo. The palate was medium-bodied and musty with an initial foray into the flower garden rose bed. As oak built up on the palate, the mustiness turned toward an old attic crawl space, while fruitier notes of baked plums, apricot, and bergamot tied everything together with hints of cream. Birch bark tea or soda arrived with dried orange rind and hints of mint and chamomile. Those lovely botanicals turned toward hibiscus on a medium-length finish with cream, rose hips, and hints of orange.

A friend called this a soapy disaster— while I can see how the botanicals and cream on the nose and palate lend themselves to soap, I did not find the whisky soapy. Many of these notes are perfect for soap, so I assume if you have encountered a soap with anything approximating this combination, you are likely to experience the dram as soap just by association. I enjoyed how the birch, orange rind, mint, and chamomile arrived late on the palate and slowly transformed into tropical hibiscus and rose hips on the finish. Yet, I can see how those notes may appear in the realm of soapy flavors to some.

Overall, I expected a soapy disaster, and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found instead. At least for my palate, this worked nicely.

Image Credit: Whisky Business