Millburn 1972 Rare Vintage

The oldest distillery from Inverness, founded in 1807, had the same name as the town. When she was acquired by David Rose in 1853, she was converted into a grain mill, only to be reinstated as a distillery in 1876. Andrew Haig – of the famous blend – took over in 1892 and rechristened it Millburn Distillery. In 1985 she closed and in 1988 the budget motel chain Premier Inn opened its doors. It will come as no surprise that this is only my fifth encounter with Millburn. This is an oldie from 1972 that was bottled in 2006 by Gordon & Macphail.

I have only just put my nose in the glass and do a double take. What is this?! Milk chocolate with praline filling on the nose. This quickly evolves towards cocoa powder! But that is immediately enhanced with some weird notes of butane gas and silver polish. Smells as if I’ve poured it from a can. Hints of Turkish Delight and rotting oranges. A very weird nose!

The body is rather light. The taste is very perfume-y, as if I’ve just poured shampoo past the lips. Lots of OBE too, which is probably the cause. The oranges and Turkish Delight return and try their utmost to save the day. The success is only partial.

But the finish – nicely long – makes up for a lot. Sweet and citrusy notes mixed with a soft spiciness.

I’m convinced this was once quite a special dram, but it has lost some of it’s shine by having sat too long in a bottle that was more than half empty. Pity.

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