It’s all go over here at the moment and having recently launched the Reference Series, there is another exciting project or two just on the horizon, not to mention some much-anticipated new releases from That Boutique-y Whisky Company*. With all this going on it’s fallen to me to tell you a little about yet another exciting release – our shiny, new 10 year old blend!
Some people still get their knickers in a bit of a twist about blended whisky, persisting with some kind of Orwellian mantra of “single malt good, blended whisky bad”, but blends can be absolutely marvellous, and many are. Indeed, we’ve been encouraging you all to try your hand at creating your own with our Home Blending Kits and Blend Your Own Whisky service for a long time now, and I covered the subject on the blog last year when I had a go myself. (Don’t worry, I had nothing to do with this new blend!)
The new (very yummy) 10 year old will be replacing our award-winning 8 Year Old Blended Whisky, and has been brought in line with every other Master of Malt bottling, both in terms of its presentation and – significantly – in being non-chill-filtered. This has been made possible by moving the abv up to 47.5%. (Without going into it too much, below 46% abv the lipids or fatty acids that are naturally in all whiskies will begin to come out of solution whilst at room temperature. This will, in turn, begin to cause visible cloudiness in the form of suspended solid particles.)
There is, of course, no caramel added either; this is an unadulterated, rich and complex blended whisky with gorgeous chestnut character. We’re really rather proud of it – here are Mike’s tasting notes:
Master of Malt 10 Year Old Blended Whisky (1st Edition) – 47.5%
Tasting Note for Master of Malt 10 Year Old Blended Whisky:
Nose: Notes of rich, nutty chestnut honey alongside a base of thick malt. With time in the glass, notes of burnt apple crumble develop, with perhaps a hint of gingernut biscuit mix made with lots of freshly ground nutmeg.
Palate: Malt-led palate with cocoa dusting to the fore. Notes of melted rum and raisin ice-cream and allspice. At its core this is a very malty, Speyside-led blend with lots of depth.
Finish: Sweet spices sing on the finish. Malt loaf and a hint of stem ginger.
Jake
* Yes – the Bruichladdich is on its way – promise!
