A blended malt from Speyside, made from single malts distilled at different Scottish distilleries and married together. No grain whisky in the bottle: blended malt means malt and only malt, which is why it drinks rounder and fruitier than most blends at this strength.
- Blended malt Scotch whisky, Speyside.
- 40% ABV, 70cl bottle.
- Vanilla, honey and spiced orange.
- Malted, faintly nutty, a touch of oak.
How it is made
Single malts from more than one distillery, vatted together rather than sold on their own. The distinction matters: a blend can include column-distilled grain whisky, a blended malt cannot. Everything in the bottle came off a pot still, from malted barley, at a distillery in Scotland.
How it tastes
Rich and smooth on the first pass, with vanilla and honey leading and spiced orange close behind. There is a malty, slightly nutty weight underneath it, and a light oak note on the finish. Soft rather than sharp, and steady at 40%.
Good to know
Speyside holds more working distilleries than any other whisky region in Scotland, and most of the malt that goes into blends like this one is made there. Blended malt is also the youngest category in Scotch law: the term only replaced "vatted malt" in 2009, so bottles from before then carry the older wording for exactly the same thing.
