Blends and blended malts often get a bum wrap from whisky geeks but often they are as good as, if not better than, some single malts.
Blended Malts are essentially blended Scotch whiskies without the grain element. They combine single malt whiskies from two or more distilleries and, as such, their flavours are as rich and varied as the entire distillery map of Scotland, from honeyed fruitiness to full-on peat smoke.
| Dram | Scalasaig Island Hopper [CBL] | Waterproof [McDI] | Smoke Stack [VM] | Timorous Beastie 10yo [DL] | Wee Mongrel [LBDS] | Glencoe 8yo [MacD] (Ben Nevis) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | 43% NCF/NC | 45.8% NCF/NC | 46% NCF/NC | 46.8% NCF/NC | 52.3% NCF/NC | 58% NCF/NC |
| Distillery notes | The Maiden Voyage is a release of only 3,000 bottles, ten unique casks of Single malt whisky with a distinctly maritime style were vatted by masters of their craft and re-racked into first-fill European sherry oak casks to finish their maturation. Nose: Smoked sweet teriyaki cured meats with a hint of spice and dried cake fruits. Palate: Rich and robust. Warming hints of exotic spice, dried fruits and dark liquorice. Enveloping it all is the bold burning embers of a peat fire. Finish: Salty sea breeze, sweet and warming with waves of maritime smoke. | Waterproof is a Sherry-influenced malt whisky from a handful of top distilleries, batch bottled at higher than normal strength. The name and looks are inspired by 'Water' and 'Strength' (Proof) and by the Scottish inventor of the much-needed raincoat (the Mac), Charles Macintosh. | SmokeStack is a richly peated (blended) malt of premium casks from Islay and the Highlands, each carefully selected for their smokey flavour. At around 30ppm of phenol, this dram hits like a runaway train. Hang on for the ride……… Nose: Vanilla and sweet peat smoke. Ginger and citrus notes. A hint of iodine. Palate: Heavy dry smoke with spicy sweetness. Light oiliness with sweet peat, ginger , lemon and honey. Finish: Long and drying. Late oils and more smoke. | The original Timorous Beastie, immortalised in Robert Burns’ famous Scots poem “To a Mouse” was a timid, little field mouse. Echoing our national bard’s wit, ours is most certainly not for the fainthearted! Inside there’s a medley of vanilla, malted barley, meringue, honey and citrus flavours just bursting to be unleashed… Nose: Very sweet as if sugar and syrup have been added to spiced autumnal fruit. Palate: Now with honey, the gentlest spices and a distinct cereal content. Finish: Honeycomb and clove studded orange | Batch One is aged 20 years and matured in a single sherry butt, bottled at cask strength 52.3% abv Fruity, rich, spicy goodness. Nose: fresh fig, dunnage, sugar mice Palate: plums, cranberry sauce, stem ginger, freshly brewed coffee Finish: long, veeerrrrryyy looonnnggg. Gentle warming spice. | Glencoe 8yo is a cask strength blended malt whisky produced by the Ben Nevis Distillery. This Blended Malt was introduced to the market in the late 1960’s by Rory McDonald, a direct descendant of Long John McDonald who founded the Ben Nevis Distillery in 1825. Since 1989 the distillery has been part of the Nikka Group. Nose: Dried fruits, nuts, cereal, marmalade, honey, toffee Taste: Sherry, builders tea, oak, barley, nuts, spicy, apricot, toffee and honey Finish: Medium to long, strong and spicy with a hint of dark chocolate. |
| My thoughts: | ||||||
| Appearance |  | |||||
| Dark gold, almost bronze, in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs | Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly before eventually falling as slow thick legs | Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs | Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs | Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line which takes a while to bead up and fall as slow thick legs | Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line which takes a while to bead up and fall as slow thick legs | |
| Nose | Christmas cake notes - sherry, dried fruit, chopped nuts and cinnamon spice with a little smoke and maritime breeze. A little time and air offers BBQ meats. | Huge sherry notes - musty book shop, old leather, strawberry jam but with a sour citrus edge and maybe a hint of smoke? The ABV tickles the nasal hairs! | Peat smoke to start with a heavy helping of sea breeze - it's not medicinal - more of a gentle Caol Ila. There's some citrus zest and a little orchard fruit. | Orchard fruit and sweet honey - apples, pears and apricots. A hint of over ripe banana and digestive biscuit. A little time and air offers a grassy / herbal note and some citrus. | Musty dunnage warehouse, a little dried fruit, citrus peel and almonds. A hint of smoke and some berry notes follow. | Musty second hand bookshop, wet dog lying on wet wood, old solidified honey. There's some orchard fruit and a little citrus here too. |
| Palate | Oily arrival with huge spice notes, orchard fruit and honey. The ABV seems a lot higher than the 43% on the bottle. Camp fire smoke, orange juice, brown sugar and drying liquorice follow. Hints of seaweed and toffee. Nice | Thick syrupy arrival immediately spicy. Red fruit, more sour citrus and a drying note in the mouth. There's some dried fruit and more ginger spice. A few more sips off a sweetness - honey and more red berries. Yummy! | Sweet oily arrival, baked orchard fruit drizzled in honey with a heavy blanked of peat smoke. There's some gingery spice and a huge drying smoke note as the liquid disappears. Nice | Thick sweet arrival. The orchard fruit from the nose are back along with that strange ripe banana note... A little time and air offers a lemon meringue with biscuity base note and a hint of sour citrus as the liquid disappears. | Thick chewy arrival, dried fruit soaked in sherry to start then a bite of gingery spice. A little orange zest, dark bitter chocolate and drying icing sugar as the liquid disappears. Nice. | Thick syrupy arrival, bitter dark chocolate, ginger spice and a hint of musty smoke. The ABV makes itself known. This isn't pleasant, needed a mouthful of water on the tongue to take away the bitterness... |
| Finish | Lingering brown sugar and orchard fruit. | Long warming finish, ginger spice and drying oak notes. | Long dry smoky finish with a little citrus. | Medium length - dry with orange zest and ginger spice. | Long warming sherry, ginger spice and dry icing sugar. | Lingering dark bitter chocolate and a peppery spice. |
| Overall | Blended malts claim to take the best malts and marry them together to create something better, but they are nearly always cheaper than a single malt and don't always deliver. I don't normally mention price in my reviews but in this case I'll make an exception. The Wee Mongrel is around £60, but it is 20yo, the Glencoe and Scalasaig come in at £50 with the other 3 at around £30 - that a big range. The Glencoe just wasn't nice - nothing like some of the Ben Nevis single malts I've had and hugely overpriced. The Timorous Beastie was a little plain, boring even? it's NAS sibling is aimed at the cocktail or long drink market but I just don't see what the 10 year age statement adds. The Scalasaig, Smoke Stack and Wee Mongrel were nice, easily daily drinkers, take your choice, sherried, peated or heavily sherried, but... £60 for a blend, albeit a 20yo blend is a lot... That leaves the Waterproof, the best of the six, not by a long way but enough to really stand out and it's less than £30, I'm already on bottle #3 - enough said! | |||||
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