Milford 10 Year Old

Willowbank Distillery opened in Dunedin (New-Zealand, South Island) at the end of the sixties of the last century. First they produced two blends, ‘Wilson’s’ and ’45 South’ (referring to their location on the 45th parallel). In 1984 they released their First single malt ‘Lammerlaw’, named after the Lammermoor hills, from whence they got their water for production.

The distillery closed in 1997 and was demolished in 1999. The stocks were then acquired by the New Zealand Malt Whisky Company and bottled as Milford. The core range consists of the 10, 15, 18, 20 and 21 Year Old (the last one is a cask strength) and there are also four vintages, i.e. 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1993, all of them at cask strength.

In Europe, primarily the Milford 10 Year Old is available.

On the nose you will discover caramel, vanilla and dried apricots and something that reminds me of – don’t laugh! – the scent that you also get when forking a banana into a baby’s fruit meal. Know what I mean? It’s a little dry – if one can say such a thing of a smell. However, all rather… ordinary.

On the palate, the whisky starts out with a very sweet attack with citrus fruits and… well, banana, I guess, but soon it becomes lightly peppery – primarily nutmeg.

The finish is warm, but oaky and dry.

In Belgium the bottle is available for 35 EUR approx. I guess you could say the Milford can be compared to a Scottish Lowland whisky – just not as good. It is a bottom shelf whisky in my book. Nice to have, but nothing more. I do like the way the marketing boys at the NZMWC praise their product though: ‘The superlatives are many, the bottles are few’. I daresay it’s the other way around, because you can even buy casks from their official website www.milfordwhisky.co.nz.

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