Martin Mills

[AVB]

My bottle of Martin Mills arrived yesterday, now I have to find an excuse to open it. Perhaps a Memorial day in a toast to my Brothers-in-Arms will be reason enough. I don't know why I can open a $300 bottle of scotch without batting an eye but can't do the same for a bourbon at half that price.

This particular bottle was distilled in 1975 and bottled in 1999 at 24 years old. As a Heaven Hill product I'm curious to see if it is that much different then the Evan Williams 23 that I got last year. Anybody out there have any experience with Martin Mills?

[AVB]

This stumped the bourbonians? I guess I'll have to explore myself.

[Gillman]

This is a product from the 1990's made for export although some may have been sold here. Likely it is bulk whiskey marketed under that name by an intermediary (possibly Evan Kulsveen, a bottler and marketer of whiskey who is also planning to re-commence distilling at the former Willett's distillery outside Bardstown), or sold direct by the distillery using a trade or "assumed" name (i.e., a name other than its corporate name). The whiskey in question might have been distilled by the original Willett's because in the late 1990's, a whiskey 24 years old was made in the 1970's and Willett's were still distilling whiskey then (it stopped apparently in the late 70's). But Heaven Hill, which has a line in very old whiskeys, could be the source, too. Possibly Martin Mills is a combination of straight bourbons from different sources.

There aren't too many taste notes on these boards of such aged whiskeys and I know many of us would be interested to hear your take on this whiskey. Might be interesting to compare it to Elijah Craig 18 year old (also from HH) since many of those Craig 18's are over 20 years old in fact.

Gary

[AVB]

Thanks for the update. I'm 99% sure this is a Heaven Hill product and it was for export only. While I do have some EC 18 I was going to compare it to the Evan Williams 23 I have (also an HH product). Perhaps at a later point I'll check against the EC.

[Gillman]

You might be able to tell from that initial comparison if it is HH production. Noah Mills was a Kulsveen product and maybe he used the Mills suffix for this other brand, too. But it is hard to say. I ran the name Martin Mills Distillery Co. through the Commonwealth of Kentucky on-line assumed names registry but nothing came up. Assuming I did the search correctly, probably it was registered and has since expired or maybe was never registered, which might be the case if it was an export-only item.

Koji, and Julian in the case of aged rye whiskey, have said long-aged whiskey was first sent to Japan because people there asked for them, probably taking their cue from aged malt whisky. Bourbon and rye don't need to be aged as long as malt whisky but regardless a new genre of extra-aged whiskey has been created and some people enjoy them a lot. I enjoy some, e.g. most ORVW products and the Craig 18 year old some of which is 20, 21, 24 years old in fact. I think the oldest I have read about was a 27 year old HH which went to Japan, maybe Koji has a bottle of that.

Taste notes, gentlemen, please.

Gary

[AVB]

I'll be opening it up sometime this weekend, most likely on Monday. Japan has a number of extra aged bottlings althought I don't know where they all originate. There are at least 4 differently named 25 year olds in Japan. Very Olde St Nick, Old Man Winter, Cowboy and Pure Antique. There may be others too that have escaped my attention.

Here's a link to the Cowboy if you want to look.

Cowboy Little Barrel Bourbon

[TNbourbon]

The bourbon brand listing on this very website lists Heaven Hill as the Martin Mills distiller. WhiskeyPortal.com credits it as a HH brand. The WhiskeyExchange website notes that it is produced for the Japan market.

The Willet Distillery stopped distilling in 1982.

[AVB]

Tasting review posted in the tasting forum.

[hookfinger]

AVB was kind enough to have me over and let me taste a bit of this (a generous bit, I might add) side by side with the EW 23. The EW was a much smoother boubon but the alcohol bite seemed more intense even though they are the same proof. All told I'm not sure the price commanded for the whiskey actually reflects the taste profile as opposed to availability. But I'm still in the novice category and very much still enjoy some of the more common bottlings.