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Blended Scotch whiskies for Burns Night

As whisky lovers around the world raise a glass to Scottish poet Robert Burns, we’ve picked out a selection of new blended Scotch whiskies to suit every palate this Burns Night.

SB picks out a selection of blended Scotch whiskies for Burns Night

This Thursday (25 January), the world will celebrate the life and work of Rabbie Burns, widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland.

As the celebrations usually call for a Scotch whisky in hand, we have picked out an array of blended Scotches to toast the great bard, from an expression inspired by a norse goddess to an experimental release that contains just a single grain and a single malt.

Click through the following pages to discover our selection of blended Scotch whiskies for Burns Night to launch in the last 12 months.

Johnnie Walker Blenders’ Batch Rum Cask Finish

Price: £29.95

Johnnie Walker expanded its experimental Blenders’ Batch series last year with three limited-edition whiskies, which have been “designed with bartenders in mind”.

Launched alongside Johnnie Walker Blenders’ Batch Wine Cask Blend, and Johnnie Walker Blender’s Batch Espresso Roast, Johnnie Walker Blenders’ Batch Rum Cask Finish (40.8% abv) is a blend of whiskies from Speyside and the Lowlands that have been finished in casks that previously held Caribbean pot still rum.

Dalaruan

Price: £36.80

The Lost Distillery Company, which creates blended Scotch whisky to re-imagine the flavours of historical distilleries – launched a “modern-day expression” of Campbeltown malt Dalaruan.

Dalaruan Distillery was founded in 1825 in Campbeltown – a region which at its height was home to 34 working distilleries, but now only three are in operation. Dalaruan was sold at auction in 1925, at the time of the region’s decline.

The triple-distilled whisky was a key component in the Greenlees Bros’ blend, Lorne.

Exotic Cargo

Price: £45

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) released its first blended malt whisky, a 10-year-old bottling called Exotic Cargo.

The Society, which is known for its single cask, single malt bottlings, said the “experimental” release is intended to “break the mould of what can be done with a blended malt”.

To create Exotic Cargo, spirits manager Euan Campbell sourced a number of pre-blended malt whiskies that were all distilled on the same day on 2006 and matured in first-fill ex-Sherry casks.

Double Single

Price: £144.71

Initially created in 2003 as a limited edition for Duncan Elphick and Tatsuya Minagawa of the Highlander Inn, Double Single contains just a single grain and a single malt: 72% of the blend is a single malt whisky aged in re-­charred Bourbon hogsheads from Glen Elgin Distillery, and the rest is a single grain whisky aged in re­-charred Bourbon barrels from the Girvan Distillery.

Compass Box believes the blend provides a depth of flavour not found in single malts, but that its simplicity provides a “purity of flavour” absent from blends with more components.

James Eadie Trade Mark X

Price: £45

Rupert Patrick, a former commercial director for Diageo, relaunched his ancestor’s historic James Eadie Scotch brand last year.

Patrick has now recreated James Eadie Trade Mark X – which became one of the world’s first trademarks.

The blend contains 12 whiskies found in Eadie’s Victorian ledgers, including Lagavulin, Caol Ila, Aberlour and Craigellachie, as well as grain and malt from closed distilleries Cambus and Littlemill.

Master blender Norman Matheson created the blend, which is said to have both sweet and floral Speyside flavours and peaty, smoky island notes.

Naked Grouse

Price: £27.95

Naked Grouse re-launched as a blended malt last year in order to “challenge traditional stereotypes of whisky” and attract a younger audience.

It was originally introduced as a premium offering of The Famous Grouse family of brands in 2010.

Naked Grouse comprises liquid exclusively from malt distilleries such as The Macallan, Highland Park, Glenturret and The Glenrothes.

Yula

 

Price: £118.00

Scotch whisky maker Douglas Laing concluded its Yula trilogy with the launch of a 22-year-old limited edition bottling.

Following the release of a 20-year-old and 21-year-old, Yula 22 Year Old blended malt is made with peated whiskies from Islay and the Islands.

The range, which launched in 2015, is a brand of blended island Scotch whiskies inspired by a Norse goddess

Compass Box No Name and Phenomenology

 

 

Price: US$125 (No Name) and US$180 (Phenomenology)

Compass Box has released two new blended malts inspired by the concept of phenomenology.

The peated expression, called No Name, is comprised of liquid from three Islay distilleries, as well as a “touch of malt whisky finished in French oak”.

The second whisky, called Phenomenology, has been initially released without recipe information in order to “encourage drinkers to experience the whisky without preconceptions”.

Both new blended malts have been designed to challenge a drinker’s “thinking about how a whisky is experienced and understood” through the theory of phenomenology – that is, sensory experiences.

John Walker & Sons Private Collection 2017 Edition Mastery of Oak

Price: US$995.00

Diageo released the 2017 edition of its high-end John Walker & Sons Private Collection, which showcases the influence of oak casks on Scotch whisky.

The fourth edition in the range – called Mastery of Oak – is a combination of three unique blends, each selected for their ability to display different oak characteristics.

The first vatting is a mix of malt and grain whiskies that have been aged in active American oak, together with a “handful” of whiskies aged in rejuvenated casks, while the second consists of Highland and Speyside refill casks – mostly American and some European – that have been aged for longer than the first vatting.

The third and final vatting consists of “experimental” malt and grain whiskies aged in American oak casks (mostly new oak) that had been toasted to varying degrees; casks filled with spirit of different alcoholic strengths; and ‘salt cured’ casks.

Shackleton Blended Malt Scotch Whisky

Price: £40

Whyte & Mackay launched blended Scotch malt whisky brand Shackleton, which was inspired by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the charismatic British explorer who led the first expedition to the Antarctic plateau.

Shackleton set in sail in 1907 on a ship packed with 25 hand-selected cases of Mackinlay’s Rare Old Highland Malt Whisky. He and three companions became the first to set foot on the Antarctic Plateau in January 1909 – but abandoned their expedition to the South Pole as the team was close to starvation and suffering from exhaustion.

In 2007 three cases of the whisky were uncovered, frozen into the ice beneath Shackleton’s base camp. Whyte & Mackay’s master blender, Richard Paterson, analysed and re-created the whisky, and has used this as the foundation to create Shackleton.

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