Category: Blended Malt Whisky

Blended Malt Whisky

Whisky of the Week review and tasting notes for Blended Malt Whisky. A collection of all the interesting releases I have tried. Mainly Scotch whisky from all the whisky regions.

Bennachie 10 year old Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 06/15/2015

In Blended Malt Whisky

I bought a bottle of Bennachie 10 year old vatted malt Scotch whisky on auction some time ago. I have never seen the name before, so it was an interesting bottle to get. William Smith started the Bennachie distillery in 1824 as the Jericho Distillery near the village of Insch.

The distillery changed hands a few times, and some extensions and changes were made. One of the new owners changed the distillery’s name to Bennachie, after the Aberdeenshire Mountain. The distillery shut its doors in 1913, and 6 years later, Lawrence MacDonald Chalmers purchased it.

Attempts were made to reopen the distillery but failed. United Brands took over the name and started the Bennachie Scotch Whisky Company Ltd in 1998. The Bennachie name is used for a range of vatted malts.

According to the back of the bottle: “A blend of only the finest single malt whiskies distilled in Scotland. They have been ‘married’ at 10 year old to achieve the mellow yet slightly woody taste which has enabled us to simulate the taste of the original Bennachie whisky.”

What is Vatted Malt / Blended Malt?

All of this raised the question; what is vatted malt? I found various clarifications, and simply put, it all comes down to :
Single Malt: A whisky made at one particular distillery from a mash that uses only malted grain, ordinarily barley.
Blended whisky: Produced by mixing (blending) different types of whisky into one. These whiskies can be single malts and grain-based whiskies.
Vatted Malt (or renamed as blended malt whisky): a blend of only single malt whiskies with no other grains added. The single malts can be from more than one distillery. An example of a blended malt is the Monkey Shoulder whisky, a blend between the Glenfiddich, Kininvie and Balvenie single malts) or the Douglas Laing Remarkable Regional Malt releases such as Scallywag, Rock Oyster and Big Peat.

But more importantly, how does this Bennachie vatted malt taste?

Related Article: Shackleton whisky

Bennachie 10 year old Whisky Review

ABV: 40%

COLOUR: A rich gold. It is quite an oily whisky with long fingers on the inside of the glass.

NOSE: Barley, cereals and wood. There are hints of flowers, vanilla and butterscotch. In the background, there are bits of citrus floating around. When you add a bit of water, more green apple notes appear on the nose.

PALATE: Mild spice and bitter citrus intermingling with oak, greengage and flowers. It is quite a delicate whisky. Adding water smooths the whisky but also brings out more of the bitter citrus notes. This Bennachie Vatted Malt Scotch is not a very complex whisky.

FINISH: Quite short and end in notes of oak and citrus.

RATING: GOOD

It is interesting to have in the collection, but the unusual bottle shape is probably more memorable than the whisky. I see that Master of Malt stocked the Bennachie range but lists them all now as ‘Discontinued’.

Also Read: Kamiki whisky

Compass Box The Peat Monster Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 12/08/2014

In Blended Malt Whisky

The Peat Monster whisky is part of the Signature Range from the Compass Box Whisky Co. Compass Box is a specialist, small batch Scotch whisky maker. American ex-pat John Glaser started Compass Box Whisky Company in 2000.

His vision has been to create one of Scotland’s finest and most exciting whisky companies, re-establishing the industry’s standards for quality and style.Compass Box does not distil any of the whiskies used in its blends.

The company’s whisky makers select distillates from several existing Scotch whisky distilleries, including malts from Ardmore, Caol Ila, Clynelish, Dailuaine, Glen Elgin, Laphroaig and Teaninich.

They also make use of grain whiskies from Cameronbridge and Cambus. The selected whiskies are then blended, and the resulting blend is matured further. According to Compass Box, blending these various whiskies and then ageing them in selected woods allows for a more complex, multi-layered whisky.

This Peat Monster malt Scotch contains whisky from a few distilleries. Some were from the village of Port Askaig in Islay, with a few south coast Islay whisky too, vatted with Ardmore. It was matured in a mix of first-fill and refill American oak casks.

None of the Compass Box bottlings is chill-filtered, nor is any colouring added and are all married exclusively in American oak.

Related Article: Laphroaig An Cuan Mor whisky

Compass Box The Peat Monster Whisky Review

ABV: 46%

COLOUR: Compass Box The Peat Monster has a light golden colour, and it seems to be a thick oily whisky in the glass.

NOSE: The peat hits you on first nosing the whisky. It has the classic Islay notes of sea and salt. It seems softer than the other Islay whiskies such as the Ardbeg on the nose. But the notes iodine and medicinal TCP lingers in the background as expected. It has faint hints of fruit lingering in the nose that comes through.

PALATE: On the palate, without the addition of water, the peat comes through straight away. With the addition of water, there are medicinal notes intertwined with hints of sweetness and fruit. The Compass Box Peat Monster is a medium-bodied whisky.

FINISH: Medium and ends in notes of peat and bits of orange and kumquat.

RATING: VERY GOOD.

It is not a very complex whisky. Compared to some of the distilleries that go into this, the Compass Box Peat Monster is more toned down and refined. The name of the whisky creates a certain expectation and sadly this does not quite life up to it. It is drinkable peaty whisky, however, it is by no means a Monster.

This dram also made it onto my favourite peated whisky list. You can read this article all the other peated drams that also made it onto the list.

Also Read: DYC 8 yo Whisky

Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 06/25/2014

In Blended Malt Whisky

In 2013 John graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy. I wanted to find something special to celebrate this momentous occasion. My first stop was the WhiskyBrother shop in Hydepark, and there I found this very special bottle of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt whisky.

It is a replica of the Mackinlay’s whisky left in Antarctica by Sir Ernest Shackleton during his Antarctic expedition. In February 2007, after almost a century buried under thick ice beneath Shackleton’s expedition hut, a maintenance team discovered three crates of this long-lost Mackinlay’s whisky.

However, in line with international protocols, the team could not remove the crates from Antarctica unless for conservation or scientific reasons. Whyte and Mackay, who owns the Mackinlay brand, jumped at this opportunity. Under the leadership of their Master Blender, Richard Paterson, they managed to recreate this special whisky almost perfectly.

Down to the very last detail, including the packaging. Early 2010, one crate of the whisky removed from the ice and flown back to Canterbury Museum. With the whisky from the frozen crate, the museum conservators completed a detailed analysis of the packaging, labels and bottles. Eventually, this crate returned to its original resting place.

The result of all this is a faithful reproduction of the very bottle of Mackinlay’s whisky that Shackleton took with him on his expedition. It was a blended whisky using malts from Speyside, the Islands, and the Highlands, including a 1983 Glen Mhor.

Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Trans-Antarctic expedition is one of the greatest survival stories in history. It has inspired adventurers across every continent over three generations.

Related Article: Millstone 8 yo French Oak Whisky

Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky Review

ABV: 47.3%

COLOUR: The official colour description for this whisky is light honey, straw gold with shimmering highlights.

NOSE: Light and elegant but still complex. There are notes of fresh fruit, vanilla sweetness and hints of smoke and cinnamon spice. This well-balanced Mackinlay doesn’t need too much water.

PALATE: Bits of smoke and peat mixed with barley, honey and rich toffee sweetness. There are delicate florals and a bit more spice. It is a lovely complex whisky that warms you from the inside.

FINISH: The Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt whisky is full-bodied with a medium finish.

RATING: EXCELLENT

A delicious dram. Perfect for that exceptional occasion where you need something different. The Mackinlay’s bottle is still in the wooden case and exhibited in a special place in my whisky room. Seeing the bottle reminds us of the great evening when John was rewarded for his hard work on his PhD.

A more accessible Shackleton blended malt Scotch whisky was released during 2017, and I captured my detailed tasting notes for this release if you follow the blog post.

Also Read: Johnnie Walker Premier whisky