Matt’s Blended Tasting – Six at Seatoun

Matt is a long-time whisky taster.

He is also a very knowledgeable whisky connoisseur. So the prospect of Matt holding a tasting of blended whiskies made my ears prick up.  A lot.

The majority of my whisky education has come from listening to people who know more than me – which is a big group of people! Matt is very deservedly in that group.

I’ve sat in the room with him at a lot of whisky tastings over the years. In recent times many of those tastings have involved reasonably esoteric Single Malt bottlings.

While drinking esoteric single malts is all very fine and ego-building, they are generally harder whiskies to find. And they tend to be at a higher price point if you do!

As a rule, blends tend to be more accessible – and more affordable, especially if you need to buy petrol too.

Single Malts v Blends

I don’t want to be lecturing on the difference between single malts and blended whiskies.

Suffice to say that – in exceptionally broad terms – a blended whisky is a combination of two or more whiskies that have been distilled in different distilleries and then put together in one bottle. That’s a very simplistic description – there a considerable number of variations on the theme!

I greatly admire whisky makers. They do stuff that I couldn’t do: I’m happy to let them do it and leave me to reap the benefits three to thirty years down the line.

Examples of blended whiskies include the Johnny Walker range, Chivas Regal, and Famous Grouse whiskies.

Making blended whisky

Any single malt whisky is the combination of a set of given ingredients and circumstance – the materials (grain, water, yeast), the manufacturing equipment and process, the duration of maturation, the type of cask used. Within these parameters the outcome is reasonably predictable, but the results can also vary widely.

I greatly admire whisky makers. They do stuff that I couldn’t do: I’m happy to let them do it and leave me to reap the benefits three to thirty years down the line.

But whisky blenders are a different breed! Their task is to produce a whisky that noses, tastes and feels the same as the one they produced last year and the years before that.

Like making the same chocolate cake each birthday.

But the whiskies the blenders took to get make last year’s cake may not be available this year. Eggs can’t be got and the chocolate supply has dried up. The blender is left to source other component whiskies that she/he can blend in different ways and quantities to produce a cake that is indistinguishable from last year’s.

That’s skill!

The Tasting

Matt had six blends for the tasting. All of them are reasonable available if you shop around a bit.

The Line-up

As usual, five of the whiskies were known to the tasters and the sixth was a “mystery”, the drams were presented “blind”.

The tasting notes and scores by glass are mine from the evening. Any resemblance to the overall results at the bottom is purely coincidental!

Glass 1:  Naked Malt, 40% 19yo, Naked Grouse without the grain component

Nose: Brown-bread toast, grassy (straw), chocolate
Palate: Sweet and soft, then pepper corns
Finish: oily residue on tongue & lips
Conclusion: OK, but not startling. First fill oloroso casks
Score: 7.1

Glass 2:  Monkey Shoulder “Smokey Money” Batch 9, 40%

Nose: There’s the peaty one! Raw bacon in a crepe bandage, banana-flavoured lollies.
Palate: Watery & thin.
Finish: Peat stays on … and on. Oily.
Conclusion: A bit disappointing. I’ve had other Monkey Shoulder expressions that left a better impression. The peat gets in the way here.
Score: 6.8

Glass3:  The Mystery (revealed as Johnny Walker Blue Label)

Nose: Nose prickle, sherried, and hint of smoke. Honey and Solvol soap.
Palate: Tannic and a bit non-descript.
Conclusion: I didn’t pick it as a JW.
Score: 7.2

Glass 4:  Whisky Trail “Rockabilly Hoedown” 19yo, 45%. Sherry Butt .

Nose: Potato crisps and poached stone fruit.
Palate: Sweet & soft, inoffensive.
Finish: Berries and brown sugar. Long!
Conclusion: Nice!  This whisky is from Elixir Distillers, who’s other brands include Port Askaig and Elements of Islay. At 19 yo the Rockabilly Hoedown may be the combination of two purchases of raw spirit that have been casked and matured together. Could be a teaspooned Longmorn?
Score: 8.1

Glass 5:  North Star SuperSonic Mach 4, 7yo, 60%. 2 Sherry Butts

Nose: Slight nose of kerosene, like a Riesling wine. Buttery, with good legs, citrus marmalade, Honey & sawdust and brown sugar.
Palate: Rich and vegetal (not in a bad way), coffee and goes hot with a tannic edge.
Finish: Sack-y, sherry, hot, dark chocolate
Conclusion: Want to buy one!
Score: 8.5

Glass 6:  Adelphi Private Stock Reserve, 57%

Nose: “Hell of a good nose”, medicinal and bandages, smoke and marine, buttery bacon.
Palate: Salty, peaty, sweet bacon.
Finish: Warming.
Conclusion: Lives much more to the promise of the nose than a lot of earlier Ardnamurchans.
Score: 8.5

Group Results

The results for “Best Nose” are:
Glass 1: Naked Malt: 7 Votes (3rd Place)
Glass 2: Smokey Monkey: 6 Votes (4th Place)
Glass 3: Johnnie Walker Blue Label: 2 Votes (5th Place)
Glass 4: The Whisky Trail: 9 Votes (2nd Place)
Glass 5: Super Sonic Mach 4: 12 Votes (1st Place)
Glass 6: Adelphi Peated” 1 Vote (6th Place)

The results for Overall Favourite with the average score from the toom are:
Glass 1: Naked Malt: score 6.24 (4th Place)
Glass 2: Smokey Monkey: score 6.14 (5th Place)
Glass 3: Johnnie Walker Blue Label: score 6.06 (6th Place)
Glass 4: The Whisky Trail: score 7.86 (1st Place)
Glass 5: Super Sonic Mach 4: score 7.24 (2nd Place)
Glass 6: Adelphi Peated: score 7.14 (3rd Place)

Bits and Bobs – Dramfest and beyond

I have decided to stop giving numeric scoring to whiskies.

My change in approach has come from comments that passed my way recently: the first is that the most important thing is “do you like it?”. This was followed by a remark from a whisky writer defied anyone to tell the difference between a whisky with a rating of 8.2 and one rated at 8.4.

So I’m going to grade:
A – love it/want it
B – would drink it, but not spend money to get it
C – you fill in the gap!

Here are a few recent tastings. The first two – fantastic GlenAllachies – were In the Wee Dram corner of Dramfest 2020. My ticket to the tasting was provided free of charge by Kurt, for whose generosity I am deeply indebted! The others are from help Pat come out of lockdown!

Glenallachie Madiera Finish
Cask no 3756, Refill Bourbon
Age: 16yo, distilled 2005, bottled 2015,
Colour 1.1 (deep tan)
Non-chill filtered, non-coloured

Nose:  Fruity and sweet. Softly medicinal, like going out on a date with a nurse (I thought about adding an explanation here about a girlfriend – a nurse – in my late teens. In trying to write the explanation, though, it really only made things worse!)

Palette:  Oily, strawberry, with alcohol heat and Madiera sweetness. No clear bourbon notes, though.

Finish:  Long and rather drying, nutty at the end.

Comment:  At 16 years of age, the whisky heads back to a distilled date in the period when the distillery was owned by Chivas Bros: a good 14 years before current owners Billy Walker, Trish Savage and Graham Stevenson bought the place.

Since that purchase in 2017, I have experienced some varied output from GlenAllachie. One was delightful but a couple were less than memorable.

However, both this Madeira finish and the Sauternes finish below are stunners! Both well in grade A.

Glenallachie Sauternes Finish
Cask No 3727, first fill Bourbon
ABV 58%. Age 11yo, distilled 2009,
Colour 0.7/.0.8 (darker golden),
NC2

Nose:  Soft and sweet

Palette:  Light and pure, not as heated as the Madeira Finish. Honey, tannic and waxy.

Comment:  Shorter finish that the madeira, but still long.

 

From Pat’s lockdowns:

 

Monkey Shoulder
100% malt whisky, blended from “small batches of different Speyside malts” – reputedly Glenfiddich and Balvenie [William Grant & Sons].

The Monkey Shoulder website loudly & luridly claims the whisky is “Made for Mixing”. The site provides recipes for a “Lazy Old Fashioned” (Angostura Bitters, sugar syrup and orange zest), a “Ginger Monkey” (dry ginger ale and an orange wedge) and a “Monkey Splash” (replace the dry ginger ale and orange wedge with soda and an orange wedge).

Nose:  Fresh apricots and Airfix plastic model-aeroplane glue.

Palette:  Tongue-numbing, smooth, apple. Peaches and nectarines in custard, held together with the plastic glue.

Finish:  A slight smoke residue.

Comment:  At well under NZ$100, I’d have that. Graded a low A.

The website loudly & luridly claims the whisky is “Made for Mixing”.


Teeling Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey


ABV 46%, no age statement, bottled Sept 2019
Colour 0.9

Nose:  Coffee and golden syrup

Palette:  Peppery (but it’s very short). Drying my mouth, and sour.

Comment:  Single pot still – in Scottish terms, technically a grain whisky and not a single malt.

Finish:  Medium

According to the Teeling website, this is “The first whiskey to be distilled in Dublin in nearly 50 years”. It is 50% malted and 50% unmalted barley, triple distilled, matured in a combination of American Virgin Oak, Bourbon, and Sherry casks.

The website description is very chatty about the nose (hibiscus flowers, grapefruit & citrus), palette (a hint of lychee, white grape notes, white pepper, roasted peaches and baked biscuits) and finish (dry, hints of spice, roasted almonds and maple syrup).

I’m not sure that I got all those, but I did like it and would definitely own one.

Glenfarclas Legend of Speyside SPRINGS Speyside single malt whisky


ABV 46%, No Age Statement,
Colour: 1.3

One of the Legends of Speyside trilogy released for the German market. Aged in ex oloroso casks, with the darker colour suggesting that these were pretty good casks.

Nose:  Grain (brown bread), sweet and rich.

Palette:  Young, with that slightly sour oloroso sherry taste and a bit fizzy on the tongue. Not mouth-filling.

Finish:  It doesn’t stay around. In wine-drinking terms, this is a quaffer.

Comment:  Length is  disappointingly short.

The bottle label is totally in German.  My extremely rudimentary grasp of the language is pretty much limited to “Eine Bier, Bitte” – not a helpful phrase in the circumstances!  However, although it’s not a great comment on the quality of the contents, the tube the whisky comes in is very pretty, arty and attractive.

Mark A-

Benriach 17yo
Casks: Bourbon, then PX finish.
ABV 46%, age 17 yo,
Colour 1.2
NC2

Nose:  Strong. Over-ripe bananas, wood and a wet nappy.

Palette:  Smooth, pepper, caramel, and a musty flavour reminiscent of an old coat cupboard.

Finish:  Tannic (from the bourbon cask?)

Comment:  The label says “PX Sherrywood finish”. Bourbon-matured American oak, then in PX.

Mark A-. At NZ$150, this is too expensive for what it is.