The young man left with a bottle of blended malt whisky, having been assured by the shopkeeper that this was the best that grandpa would be getting given the price ceiling his grandson had imposed. This prompted a lot of thoughts. For years, Scotch whisky was blended whisky. In fact, when the industry began to boom, it was because it was blended — it finally could be blended. Frankly, back in the 19thand early 20thcentury, the single expressions of each distillery were pretty rough. Pretty rough, and incredibly variable.
The early period of Scotch production can really be construed as a series of relatively wealthy, or aspirant, farmers giving distillation a crack. Weirdly, few consumers wanted to take a gamble on these terms. This is why producers that cracked the process, and introduced some consistency, managed to create brands that were so highly regarded. The person who does the combining has a super important job—making sure a branded blended Scotch whisky tastes consistent from year to year—which is probably why he or she is called the Master Blender.
Given the ability to produce consistent bottlings, and use slightly cheaper grain whisky as a filler, blended Scotch whisky is unsurprisingly the most common Scotch on the market. On the other hand, single malt whisky is simply the product of one distillery. That means any and all thank you letters should be sent to the Glenmorangie distillery. The same holds true for the less common single grain Scotch whisky, which is also the product of one distillery, just made with barley and other grains.
Salt, seaweed, brine, and iodine are common flavors you find with peat! Single malts are incredibly varied based on location and distillery. However, once you find a single malt from a specific distillery, the flavor will be fairly consistent bottle to bottle. Look to the list above to find which areas and distilleries have the profile you like best!
The taste of Blended Scotch is harder to generalize. The combination of different distilleries obviously takes away that location consistency. And since blended scotches can even combine grains, you have an even wider range of options beyond malt! Most blended whiskies are made to focus on a few flavor notes that combine well. Generally, they are smooth with many complex notes and full-flavor profiles. Think of Single Malts as specific instruments: saxophones, flutes.
While Blended is a full orchestra! The downside of a blend is some of the funkier notes in specific single malts get cut out in a blend in an effort to create a smooth, balanced bottle. But the flip side is by playing around with quantities, blenders can achieve really unique and complex flavor combinations!
Blended gets a bad reputation, since many younger versions tend to mix something good with lots of low quality whisky. But the older you go, the more likely you are to find really excellent bottles.
The only advice I can really give you here is to go out and try a few. Some of them give you an obvious clue on the bottle. Compass Box Peat Monster is a good example.
Below are some suggestions for first tastings. I do recommend ordering a glass at a bar before investing. But if you want to take the plunge with a bottle, more power to you! The Glenlivet 12 is actually an amazing single-malt scotch to try -- smooth, with the taste of summer fruits and hazelnuts and just a hint of a smoky finish. It's a great scotch to have on hand as guests will never be disappointed. This is probably one of the most common single malts to start with.
A classic Speyside, Glenlivet is sweeter, milder, and fruitier. With a subdued, citric fruitiness and a sweet start, our whisky ends with a lengthy, slightly sour finish.
Sweet fruit and Oloroso sherry notes, layered with honey and vanilla. Aged in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks, Balvenie 12 combines the best of toffee and vanilla with cream and spices. Obviously I was wrong, but it was that good for young-me! Compass Box has really been revolutionizing the blended whisky category. Their goal seems to be making blends more universally appealing and whisky-making more transparent. They are an excellent and accessible brand for beginners and experts alike.
Monkey Shoulder is a blend of Speyside single malt Scotch whiskies which are married together for flavor and consistency. The richness and vibrancy combine with fruity aromas and mellow vanilla, making it perfect for mixed drinks and cocktails. Chivas Regal 12 Year Whisky is a blend of many different malt and grain Scotch whiskies, matured for at least 12 years.
This rich, smooth blend balances style with substance and tradition with a modern twist. Full of honey, herbs, and fruit, its creamy texture is easily sipped and the price is remarkably accessible. I firmly believe every human on the planet should try a single malt once before they die. Below are some of my top choices of classic single malt scotches you can find nearly anywhere!
A massive success as the island representative in Diageo's 'Classic Malts' series, Talisker 10yo's profile keeps increasing as more fans discover its intense coastal spicy, peaty character.
A truly elemental malt. This is my top daily dram! I love the comforting salty, smokey peat, reminiscent of a beach campfire. Pear and caramel keep some sweet notes in the finish. Touted as the most richly flavored Scotch whisky in the world, Laphroaig 10 Year is a classic peated drink from Islay.
I had to put this one on my list or my boyfriend would complain. And, to be fair, it does deserve its place on the list! Laphroaig 10 is an Islay peated, no way around it. It has a strong medicinal taste and a powerful brine flavor. Iodine, sea salt, and mangos make up the rest of the flavors. Highland Park 12 Year Old is the flagship whisky from the celebrated Highland Park distillery, balancing legendary Orcadian peat with maturation in the finest sherry-seasoned oak casks.
Vibrant aromas of creme brulee, fresh tangerine, charred peach, and smoked kindling. Examples: Lagavulin, Ardbeg, Laphroaig. Campbeltown — distinguished by their salt, vanilla, and wet wool notes. Campbeltown scotches, like Islay, are highly distinctive.
Examples: Glen Scotia, Springbank, Glengyle. Glenfiddich is one of the classic Speyside Single Malts. Any easy sip and a classic way to start your first scotch experience. Glenfiddich 8 Year Old The Whiskey Exchange Try the 8 Year Old instead -- A historic bottling, this is one of the very first examples of single malt to be marketed as such. This 8-year-old Glenfiddich dates from the s.
Glenmorangie 10 is a medium-bodied Highland whisky. This is one of my personal favorite whiskeys and it seems like others are starting to catch on, as it was voted World Whisky of the Year in , , and ! One of the most intense peats around, Ardbeg 10 is full of thick mossy smoke, rich smoked fish, and some sea salt.
There is less medicinal flavor than you find in Laphroaig and less meat than you find in Lagavulin. Overall a greener, grassier dram with intense peat smoke. With a subdued, citric fruitiness and a sweet start, our whisky ends with a lengthy, slightly sour finish. A very intense dram that needs quite a bit of water. Legally, there is no such thing as double malt. The designation does not exist. That said, it does exist in marketing terms.
So, what could this term mean? A Vatted whisky and vatted malt are old terms for Blended malt. Simply, these are single malt scotches from different areas of Scotland that are blended together to create a new bottle with a specific taste profile.
How is this different from Single Malt? A vatted malt is a blend of matured scotches from different distilleries, usually created by a separate blending company.
Many vatted malt scotch bottles only include two distilleries and these will be marked on the bottle. Other vatted malts include more than two single malts. The age stated on the bottle is still the youngest whisky included in the blend. Compass Box makes a number of these that we will discuss below!
Blended whisky means a blend of both malt and grain whisky. They often have a poor or cheaper reputation and hardly ever have the age listed on the bottle.
Johnnie Walker and Famous Grouse are among the most popular blends. Simply a blend of only single grain whiskys, no malt, no barley. These single grain whiskys also come from many locations and are blended by a blending company. Compass Box Hedonism is a good example. This is possibly even harder to explain than single malt because there are just so many options. However, they are probably even easier to buy according to taste. Blending companies will carefully select specific single malts to create a specific taste profile.
A perfect example is Compass Box Peat Monster.
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