Milton-Duff Glenlivet 12, 1970s, 100% Highland Malt Scotch Whisky, 43% abv.

Spirit Genova bottling? Not sure when this was bottled. Supposedly from the 1970's when the distillery was owned by Hiram Walker Gooderham & Worts, but distribution was by Ballentine’s.

Nose: quite intense, burnt vegetables, burnt rice, burnt corn husks, a little chemical-y, with time it transforms to a sort of light BBQ, intensity lowers a bit.

Palate: smooth, well bodied, oily, initial palate is a little salty, buttery, mid palate develops some spicey honey, back palate is a sort of spiced honey but with old wet rags, the wet rag profile sort of stays on the tongue. No fruit, no smoke, more towards vegetative, dried vegetation actually.

Finish: medium, oily, a slight bitterness, like the aftermath of chewing on small tea leaves or coffee grinds.

Its not bad actually, the nose was a little standoff-ish, but given time and some acclimation, I could taste flavors other than burnt vegetation and the like. Quite flavorful, a little complex, hard for me to pinpoint the flavor profile, to me a combination of burnt vegetation, leftover tea leaves, and leftover coffee grinds. The flavors evolved with time too, ended on a slightly BBQ note.

Grade: B-

Whiskyfun.com, Serge, 78 points on 1980s bottling
Malt maniacs, 82 on 6 reviews
Whiskynotes, Ruben Luyten, 75/100

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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