Millstone 25 Year Oloroso Canada Cask

Tasting Notes

Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: life is like a box of chocolates... it calls to mind a high-end department store where Italian leather shoes and the finest handmade chocolates are sold side by side; very nutty, Armagnac, and stewed fruits to boot; earthy with fruity tobacco, and Oloroso sherry. 

Palate: rich, nutty, and fruity with loads of chocolate; treacle, maple syrup, and more Oloroso sherry; rich spices: cinnamon, cardamom, anise, and clove; fruity tobacco, candied nuts, and smooth new leather; dried dark fruits and Jujubes.

Finish: long, warming, and sherried; with more dark fruits, chocolate, leather, and tobacco.

Comment: that this is another fine old bottling of sherried Millstone shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone in the know; Patrick Van Zuidam's whiskies really do deserve more demand and attention than they get, and this is a fine example of why that should be the case; old school sherry, the kind we rarely see anymore... though I have to say I think I slightly prefer the Boutique-y 10th Birthday 25 year old to this one... we'll need to put them head to head at some point to be sure though!

Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: You could almost drown in the drenched, syrupy goodness wafting out of the glass on this one. Full of raisins, dates, stewed plums, black forest cake, pralines, chocolate Turtles, reduced raspberry balsamic vinegar, and a damp and mossy forest floor full of fallen pine needles.

Palate: It is absolutely nuts. And It’s chocolate. And maple syrup, 20+ year old tawny port mixed with Vin Santo, plus raisins, dates, plums, cassis, brandied cherries, Amaretto liqueur, Nutella spread, and that last sip of a good cup of coffee.

Finish: In a word: lengthy. Plenty of fruit leather and nuttiness that doesn’t just stick around; it moves in. If I don’t remember to brush my teeth tonight, I may still be tasting this when I wake up in the morning.

Comment: There is a density to sherried Millstone single malt that is nearly unrivalled. This is a boozy Christmas cake that is more booze than cake, and all the better for it.

91 pts Whisky Fun

"Hardly a Nordic country, but there. I mean, Holland, not Canada. And we know what's gonna happen, do we not…  Colour: dark amber. Nose: prune juice and umeshu, vieille prune, very old PX (yep I've noticed this was oloroso), fig wine, heavy honeys, Parma ham, drop of tar liqueur, drop of green chartreuse, bits of chocolate and marzipan (Mozart Kugeln), old Armagnac, roasted pecans, pine resin… All right, this is just insane. So many scents, not a single flaw and nothing that would be even remotely out of place. Mouth: what? Black raisins, meat and wine reduction, more prune wine, very heavy pinot noir, gravy, malt extracts, cherry liqueur… etc etc etc. Finish: very long, curiously fresh, never cloying or jammed, but really loaded with prunes and brown sauces. Stunning vivid citrus in the aftertaste, like in an old Graves. Comments: ah, those 1996s. Stunning work Millstone/Zuidam, so early at the forefront of pre-Brexit (and post-Brexit) European whiskies! SGP:762 - 91 points."