Preferred blended whisky
- Thread starter Jeltz
- Start Date
- Messages
- 3,477
- Location
- Cumbria, England
As far as blends go I prefer Irish, my favourite is Bushmills Black Bush.
I have to say that I've tried some truly horrible malts and some marvelous blends - all this "malt is the only way" talk is a load of guff!
As far as blends go, my everyday (not literally) is "Jameson's". But I have a particular fondness for "Té Bheag" from The Gaelic Whisky company on Skye - based near to where my brother used to study, but I believe it is blended in Speyside.
More recently I've discovered "Monkey Shoulder" and it's definitely another good 'un.
As far as blends go, my everyday (not literally) is "Jameson's". But I have a particular fondness for "Té Bheag" from The Gaelic Whisky company on Skye - based near to where my brother used to study, but I believe it is blended in Speyside.
More recently I've discovered "Monkey Shoulder" and it's definitely another good 'un.
- Messages
- 756
- Location
- Nr Manchester
You know pretty much every single whisky is a blend, unless you buy a single barrel, cask strength bottle from an independent bottler such as the scotch malt whisky society.
Excuse me if you all know this, but every whisky distillery employs a master blender, whose job it is to make sure every bottle tastes the same.
Take a "Single malt" from Bowmore for example.
It is a nice combination of peat, sea spray, toffee and dried fruit.
Now let's say one year the wind doesn't blue from the sea, and the grain doesn't get any saltiness. The whisky tastes different, so the blender gets a bottle from the previous year, that was too salty, mixes then together and tastes again. It's close, but missing toffee. The toffee comes from aging, so he grabs a 20 year barrel and adds 10%.
There's still a lack of fruit, so he finds a sherry cask and users some of that too. Now it's perfect.
But it's a blend.
The best whisky I ever tried was a 40 year old whyte and mackay blend. In order to be called 40 years old, no whisky can be less than this. Apparently, chatting to the master blender, most of the whisky in it is 45 years old.
It was £250 a bottle.
While tasting it with Richard (Patterson - the master blender for whyte and mackay) he mentioned a 30 year old he put together. There was a mix up with the labelling and someone added 10% of what was labeled as a 30 year barrel, but contained 8 year old whisky.
It had to be sold then as 8 years old, and 250 bottles of whisky that were supposed to be sold at £150ish were sold at £12 instead. And it was supposed to be stunning.
There are some awesome blends, and some awful 'single malts'. If you like drinking it, who cares where it was born.
Excuse me if you all know this, but every whisky distillery employs a master blender, whose job it is to make sure every bottle tastes the same.
Take a "Single malt" from Bowmore for example.
It is a nice combination of peat, sea spray, toffee and dried fruit.
Now let's say one year the wind doesn't blue from the sea, and the grain doesn't get any saltiness. The whisky tastes different, so the blender gets a bottle from the previous year, that was too salty, mixes then together and tastes again. It's close, but missing toffee. The toffee comes from aging, so he grabs a 20 year barrel and adds 10%.
There's still a lack of fruit, so he finds a sherry cask and users some of that too. Now it's perfect.
But it's a blend.
The best whisky I ever tried was a 40 year old whyte and mackay blend. In order to be called 40 years old, no whisky can be less than this. Apparently, chatting to the master blender, most of the whisky in it is 45 years old.
It was £250 a bottle.
While tasting it with Richard (Patterson - the master blender for whyte and mackay) he mentioned a 30 year old he put together. There was a mix up with the labelling and someone added 10% of what was labeled as a 30 year barrel, but contained 8 year old whisky.
It had to be sold then as 8 years old, and 250 bottles of whisky that were supposed to be sold at £150ish were sold at £12 instead. And it was supposed to be stunning.
There are some awesome blends, and some awful 'single malts'. If you like drinking it, who cares where it was born.
- Messages
- 3,205
- Location
- West Norfolk. UK
Greetings
This is an extremely old thread, so old in fact I am unable to remember if I have already replied or not.
Haig is my favourite blend, the sad thing is I am unable to find anywhere in Norfolk that sells it. In Spain it is available in just about every supermarket!
Many blended whiskies are now only sold to the export market; when was the last time you saw any Cutty Sark, White Horse, Black & White, Haig etc etc these whiskies are still very popular in many countries but not in the UK where they are no longer sold.
My favourite blended Scotch that is available is Bells, by a mile.
Regards
Dick.
This is an extremely old thread, so old in fact I am unable to remember if I have already replied or not.
Haig is my favourite blend, the sad thing is I am unable to find anywhere in Norfolk that sells it. In Spain it is available in just about every supermarket!
Many blended whiskies are now only sold to the export market; when was the last time you saw any Cutty Sark, White Horse, Black & White, Haig etc etc these whiskies are still very popular in many countries but not in the UK where they are no longer sold.
My favourite blended Scotch that is available is Bells, by a mile.
Regards
Dick.
- Messages
- 127
- Location
- West Country
Norfolkdick said:
Dick,
It's not that people went off these whiskies, far from it. In the late 1970's the big distillers were spending a fortune advertising against each other in the World's markets for market share. What they did was to agree to not compete.Whiskies and gins were allocated to the States never to be seen in the UK again.
- Messages
- 1,129
- Location
- Netherlands
I was pleasantly surprised by Black Grouse ... a blend, but with a very agreeable character.
Hiya,
I don't like the taste of whisky......blend, straight, or single malt, rye, bourbon, or any of that. However, in my pre dope smoking days, alcohol was my drug of choice to get buzzed and a cheap blended whisky did the trick.
So being 19 and drinking in a small town bar out in the sticks, I would have what the locals preferred. Boilermaker with a shorty 7 ounce glass of beer and a shot of Kesslers whisky to drink down before the beer. Shot and a beer......a classic.
Kesslers and me lasted about a year and I haven't had a gulp since. Kesslers.....smooth as silk! Interesting article about the guy who started it. He was a whisky drummer.
Here: http://www.pbandawesome.com/2013/08/the-bottom-shelf-with-russ-kessler.html
I don't like the taste of whisky......blend, straight, or single malt, rye, bourbon, or any of that. However, in my pre dope smoking days, alcohol was my drug of choice to get buzzed and a cheap blended whisky did the trick.
So being 19 and drinking in a small town bar out in the sticks, I would have what the locals preferred. Boilermaker with a shorty 7 ounce glass of beer and a shot of Kesslers whisky to drink down before the beer. Shot and a beer......a classic.
Kesslers and me lasted about a year and I haven't had a gulp since. Kesslers.....smooth as silk! Interesting article about the guy who started it. He was a whisky drummer.
Here: http://www.pbandawesome.com/2013/08/the-bottom-shelf-with-russ-kessler.html