Millstone Special 31 Peated Palo Cortado

Tasting Notes

89pts Whisky Fun

""Do we really need to repeat all the praise we’ve showered upon Millstone? Honestly, everything about this one sounds a bit improbable, but that’s already half of the fun, isn’t it? Colour: pale gold. Nose: it’s as if you’ve just stuck your head into an old coal stove after spritzing yourself with lemon juice. Caraway and poppy seed bread, a touch of Dutch-style pipe tobacco (naturally), and a waft of seaweed, maybe some driftwood too. Mouth: truly bizarre, but brilliant. A medley of smokes and ashes from all sorts of origins – coal, peat, fir wood, tobacco, that grass – and a curious mix of grapefruit juice, green apples, and coriander leaves. It’s really quite odd, but it all comes together so coherently in the end. Finish: long and wonderful, with lemon-drenched ashes and a little cumin kicking in right at the finish. Comments: not quite as loco as it first seems. We’re huge fans of these whiskies that are anything but boring. Right, or delicate. SGP:565 - 89 points.""

Distillery

The Zuidam Distillery was founded in 1975 in Baarle Nassau, which lies in the southern Netherlands near the border it shares with Belgium The Founder, Fred van Zuidam, had accumulated two decades of previous experience in spirits production before deciding to make a go of it on his own. Under his care, the distillery started by making a line of premium liqueurs using natural ingredients, from grain to fruit to herbs and spices used. This methodology continues to this day, as Zuidam spirits are made with no artificial colouring or flavouring. This goes for all of their products, be it their Cassis Liqueur (which is delicious by the way), Apple Flavoured Gin, Dutch Courage Old Tom Gin, Premium Genever, or Single Malt Whiskies.

Zuidam’s first experiments in whisky-making started in 1994, and regular whisky production commenced four years later in 1998. Even then, the Zuidam family showed patience, not releasing their first single malt whisky commercially until 2007. The first bottling was a 5 year old. It was also the first release to use the Millstone name, which was a reference to the use of Dutch Windmills to stone-mill the malted barley. Nowadays, the use of windmills is no longer enough to supply all of the grist needed.

Fred’s son Patrick van Zuidam is now in charge of whisky and spirit production at the family distillery, and under his influence, the distillery’s line of whisky has stretched into a variety of different styles and grains, including Rye and three and five-grain blends. Further experiments in growing their own barley are ongoing with the stated goal to be self-sustainable when it comes to grain soon.