Some High-Quality Scottish Blends


October 9, 2024

Some High-Quality Scottish Blends
(Possibly a Half-Botched Tasting)

We'll try to focus on blended malts or super-blends (blended Scotch with a high malt content), as there are all sorts of them, and they're becoming more and more popular. However, we will try to try to avoid the blended malts that aren't truly blended, such as ‘teaspooned malts’. But we may well fail. Let’s see what we find...

Johnnie Walker 15 yo ‘Green Label’ (43%, OB, blended malt, +/-2024)

It’s been eight years since we last tasted the Green Label, but it’s always been a favourite. Long considered the Johnnie Walker of choice for malt lovers, and quite right too. Colour: pale gold. Nose: rather fresh, starting with notes of hay, malt, and honey, followed by oranges and a touch of lightly earthy, smoky tobacco. Then come ripe apples, undergrowth, mushrooms, and a gentle smoke. It’s a really lovely nose. Mouth: the 43% suits it perfectly, with the peat much more pronounced on the palate than on the nose. There’s a slightly drying touch (pepper, ashes), and a bit of earthiness. Hints of menthol, eucalyptus, even camphor, followed by more honey and chestnut purée. Very well composed by Diageo’s Mozarts, though it does fade a bit after about fifteen seconds. Finish: shorter than expected but pleasant, fresh, and rather cheerful. Honey and mint. Comments: a really good malt, and at 40-50 Euros, a strong contender for BFYB of the month. This one seems a touch peatier than older batches.
SGP:453 - 85 points.

Architectonics (49%, Compass Box, Blended Malt, for LMDW, 1,200 bottles, 2024)

A blend paying homage to the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris, where Whisky Live has been held for a few years now. It features some of Compass Box’s favourite malts, like Laphroaig and Clynelish. Colour: deep gold. Nose: complex, oily, with toasted hazelnuts to start. Then come smoked sesame, lapsang souchong, beeswax, orange peel, dandelion flower, and Ovaltine. Just a hint of juniper. Mouth: a real balancing act, with many different influences (coastal, charcoal, wax, orchard fruits), yet none overpowering the others, though it’s clearly a ‘peated’ whisky at its core. A touch of lemony liquorice too. Finish: long, with lemon, ashes, apples, and a bit of cedarwood. Hints of gentian and verbena in the aftertaste. Comments: a lovely marriage and almost a full panorama of Scotland. It does borrow some traits from Johnnie Green in my book.
SGP:554 - 87 points.

The Cairn 25 yo ‘CRN57°’ (43%, OB, blended malt, LMDW, 2024)

This blended malt is offered by G&M to tide us over until the first whiskies from their new distillery, Cairn, inaugurated in 2022, are available in 2030. As they say, ‘taste tomorrow today’, which I find rather amusing. We might imagine there’s some Benromach in the mix, but that’s purely speculation. Angus absolutely loved the 30-year-old (WF 91). Colour: gold. Nose: beautiful, very Highlands, with notes of gorse, heather, roasted chestnuts, nougat, toasted almonds, and a hint of garam masala and dried figs. There’s also a breath of the forest—moss, ferns, old stumps... Ma-gni-fi-cent. Mouth: they’ve really gone all out to offer a pre-Cairn of top quality. Wonderful old Cointreau, salty touches, thyme honey, amaretti, and walnuts… It almost feels like a blend of just two highly complementary single malts, and you’d swear there’s some Benromach in there. But that’s just my guess… Finish: a gorgeous, honeyed yet firm finish. Nuts, tobacco, chestnuts, and honey. Comments: what’s even more striking is that these 43% ABV seem to be the perfect strength here. I’m not convinced 46 or 50 would have been better.
SGP:552 - 90 points.

Enigma 27 yo 1997/2024 (51.8%, Cadenhead, blended malt, bourbon hogsheads, 1,140 bottles)

This series offers a bit of everything—blends, blended malts like this one, and even single malts. Colour: white wine. Nose: starts off lively, lemony, fresh, then softens a bit with macarons and a lovely cassata, alongside pipe tobacco, pinecones, and a few drops of miso. Another very charming nose. With water: the barley and malt return, along with a hint of plasticine and putty. Church candles. Mouth (neat): oh, this is very good! Pink grapefruit, tobacco, soy sauce, horseradish, salty touches… It has a curious Japanese side to it, truly. With water: oh yes! Salt, lemon, polish, grapefruit, slightly green gooseberries, wormwood… Just perfect. Finish: the same, and it lasts for a good while, then appear ripe but not too ripe quinces and mirabelles. Comments: incredibly coherent, you’d think it was a single malt, and not one of the lesser ones at that.
SGP:551 - 89 points.

Big Peat’s Finest 8 yo 2016/2024 (46%, Douglas Laing, Provenance, LMDW Foundations, Jamaican Rum Finish)

All right, oops, this is a Big Peat that’s actually an Islay single malt, not a blended malt, finished for two years in Jamaican rum casks. Who hasn't dreamt of pairing Islay with Jamaica like this? And there’s no Captain Haddock on the label either. Colour: very pale white wine. Nose: of course it works. It smells a little like an East Coast malt, but with the Jamaican rum influence, it feels more like something from the South Coast. You know what I mean? Tarmac, olives, oysters, ashes, beach bonfire, lemon, Tiger Balm, and so on. Mouth: simply excellent. Lemon, metal, seawater, olives, oysters, seaweed, grey pepper, saltiness... Finish: long, very fresh, invigorating, heavily peaty, lemony, and with those olives lingering in the aftertaste. Comments: in short, the Jamaican touch seems to have added olives to the Ileach. How amusing, and excellent, but now we’re waiting for a proper trans-blend, like Islay + Jamaica + Mezcal. They could call it ‘Big Heat’.
SGP:567 - 87 points.

Red Snake ‘Redneck 127’ (59.6%, Blackadder Raw Cask, bourbon, 261 bottles, 2022)

Oops, this one’s a single malt as well, peated to 20ppm. Everything about it seems improbable, but that’s exactly why we love it. Back to the roots... Oh, and 20ppm—that’s Talisker territory, isn’t it? Colour: white wine. Nose: apples, pears, violets, seaweed, and peat—plus quite a bit of ethanol. So… With water: engine oil, seawater, old boat ropes, brine, crabs, and polish… Mouth (neat): pink grapefruit, grenadine, pears, Szechuan pepper, peat, and indeed, a fair bit of ethanol. With water: strawberries and pepper? Where did that come from? And flambéed bananas… Finish: long, shifting towards citrus but with a medicinal edge as well. Bell pepper and pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: the cask seems to have been very active. What a beast this snake is.
SGP:566 - 86 points.

One last one for the road. Let's make sure it's a blended malt...

Peated Blended Malt 6 yo 2017/2023 (59.7%, Fadandel, 2nd fill oloroso sherry octave finish, cask #200000061, 69 bottles)

You’ve seen the cask number, haven’t you? Now that’s what I’d call ambition, wouldn’t you? Colour: pale gold. Nose: missed the mark again, I’m afraid. If this is a blended malt, I’m a prima ballerina at the Opera de Paris. This is pure peat, diesel fumes, tarry ropes, green apples and lemons, with a touch of ancient granite (think the nearby Kildalton Cross), fireplace ashes, and a splash of Mercurochrome. Perhaps a hint of chocolate, likely from the octave. With water: green apples, varnish, iodine tincture, and a whiff of hairspray. Mouth (neat): here comes that smoked pear and apple combo, with a bit of fir wood, followed by lemon and more iodine tincture. Grey pepper and the feeling of biting into graphite, with a sharp, pleasing bitterness. With water: this is where it shines. Old, very salty fino sherry, lemons, green walnuts, seawater, and sea urchins – the saltiest and most concentrated of all seafood. Finish: very long, very salty. Comments: top stuff, more mature than its age suggests. I’m not usually a fan of octaves, but in a 2nd fill, it can work wonders. Case in point...
SGP:567 - 88 points.

Well, since we’re delving into the depths of young malts...

Seventeen Smoky Stills 6 yo 2017/2024 (50%, Claxton’s Exploration Series, blended malt, oloroso hogshead)

The label offers up some coordinates, let’s have a peek on Google Maps… Ah, but no, those cheeky devils at Claxton’s have put their own HQ there instead! Clever lot. Well, I shan’t bother trying to work out which distilleries have cobbled together 17 stills—let’s move on, shall we? Colour: gold. Nose: cedarwood, ashes, seawater, pickle brine, tar, and brand-new tyres… With water: much the same, though the tyres really take over. Feels like you’ve wandered into a car showroom. Mouth (neat): lovely smoky lemons and brine. Nicely sharp, though quite aperitif-like—it’s one of those that stir up your appetite! With water: excellent, with a fresh burst of citrus, more ash, liquorice, tar, and a touch of seawater. Finish: very long, with a little more pepper. Those new tyres and ashy notes linger right on the finish. Comments: simply very, very good and packed with peat.
SGP:568 – 86 points.

Alright, that's enough. This whole ‘real-fake blended malts’ business is creating a right mess. Hasta luego.