The Last of the Vatted Malts

Last night at midnight the term ‘vatted malt’ was ‘outlawed’ – and a term used to describe a specific type of whisky disappeared from the English language after 150 years.

And to mark the occasion a small group of retailers, Compass Box staff and I walked to Westminster Bridge, and, with the Houses of Parliament as a backdrop and Big Ben behind us, we watched as John Glaser mixed the last ever vatted whisky as Big Ben struck midnight.

The term ‘vatted malt’ refers to a whisky which includes malts from several different distilleries, as opposed to a blended whisky which contains range of several malt whiskies mixed with grain whisky, or single malt whisky, which contains malt whisky from just one distillery.

The term was first recorded in the mid 1800s, when Scotch was at the height of its journey to world domination. And the decision to replace it with the confusing term ‘blended malt’  whisky – not the same thing as blended whisky – was bitterly opposed when it was made a few years back, not least by me, arguing the changes are confusing.

Compass Box is a London-based bespoke whisky maker which has been at the forefront of innovation for the last 10 years. Many of its creations are vatted malt whiskies made with the finest Scotch malt whisky. So company owner John Glaser was determined to mark the passing of the term with a symbolic final bottling of vatted malt whisky.

The evening began at Ducksoup in Dean Street, Soho,London, at a party organised by Barchick. Nathan Merriman from The Savoy’s American Bar created The Last Vatted Punch which contained Compass Box The Spice Tree. Then the group walked down to Westminster Bridge to arrive at 11.45pm.

It was an emotional night and a historical one. And I’m proud that I was there to share it.