Bought – Amazon, 28th October 2014
Ratings:
95/100 – Whisky Bible 2015
83.85/100 – Whiskybase (average from 35 member votes)
If you’ve never used Amazon before for buying whisky, I’d highly recommend giving them a try. I’ve wanted an example from the Dutch Zuidam distillery since 2013 but, at over £50 for the youthful 5-year-old rye, I wasn’t expecting to get a bottle any year soon. Browsing Amazon one day, I spotted the new 12-year-old release reduced by £30 to £45, with free postage, supplied by Amazon. It was pure luck but it makes up for some of those supermarket discounts I keep missing out on. Grrrr! But, like the Millstone, I’m not bitter.
So spontaneous was my purchase, I’d not read any reviews of this new 2014 release by Zuidam. I knew they were highly thought of, so it came as no surprise when I read online that this 12-year-old Sherry Cask has won prizes. Jim Murray in his Whisky Bible says “superb age on this: almost like opening a bottle of 20-year-old sherry” and “an excellent cask at work here which ensures an overflow of character”. A score of 95/100 classifies this Millstone 12yo as a “superstar whisky that gives us all a reason to live”. Make mine a double!
Bottle No: 606
Cask numbers: 1344, 1345, 1347
Date of distillation: 26/2/1999
Bottling date: 8/11/2012
Whisky Den 