Think blended Scotch is somehow sub-par compared to single malt? You’re missing out! Here are five top-notch, must-sip whiskies for spring, each one sublime in its own right.
Picture the scene. You pull up a stool at your favourite whisky bar. Your bartender friend is filling your water glass as you briefly catch up. It's a familiar whisky list so you don’t need to peruse the menu. It's the time for something easy sipping, interesting, and different. You order a blended Scotch. People turn to look at you. This is a serious whisky bar, the glares say. You know there are hundreds of single malts right there?
Blend snobbery. It’s one of the least fun things about whisky right now. But it’s not new. Arguably it dates back to the 1980s and 1990s, when single malt ad campaigns really kicked off, painting the style as more desirable than others. It was nonsense then – and it remains so today.
Let’s take it back a bit for a moment. What’s the difference between Scotch single malts and blends? They both have to be made in Scotland, and they both have to be aged for at least three years in oak casks. So what sets them apart?
In short, there are three key differences. When it comes to whisky, the word ‘single’ denotes one distillery. The ‘malt’ part? That’s the ingredient. So single malts are made from 100% malted barley at one distillery. They also have to be produced using pot stills. There’s more to it of course, but really that’s what matters.
As the name might suggest, blended Scotches are concocted from recipes that draw from more than one distillery. They are a mix of single malts and single grains (still made at one distillery, but often using different types of cereals and column stills). That’s what we’re talking about here. (Across Scotland you’ll also find blended malts – a recipe of malt whiskies made at multiple distilleries – as well as blended grains. Spoiler alert: they can all be delicious.)
Taste single malts alongside blended whiskies and of course they are different. The ingredient recipes and production methods mean single malts are typically denser, richer, and can be more pronounced. But this is a generalisation – the flavour spectrum across both blends and malts is tremendous. They can both be peated or unpeated. Long or short-aged. They can use all manner of cask types. There’s so much going on.
It makes sense, then, that both single malts and blended Scotch whiskies can be delicious. Yes, blended Scotch is the biggest style by volume. But that doesn’t make it inherently ‘lesser’. Brands big and small are producing blends today, from the expected to the experimental.
There’s so much to be discovered when it comes to blended Scotch. Write off the entire style and you’re selling yourself short. Need a starting point? Here are five incredible blends from across Scotland to try this spring.
