Scotch: The Full Gamut

For our most recent whisky tasting we thought we’d attempt to come close to tasting the full gamut of Scotch whisky – from single malts to single grains, blended malts and blended whisky.

I say we came close to tasting the full gamut, because there’s actually a category of Scotch whisky we didn’t manage to get our hands on for this tasting: a blended grain whisky - a category of Scotch whisky which is made from the combination of two or more single grain whiskies. However, as we were tasting two different single grain whiskies, we were able to get everyone to mix a little of the two together themselves to create their very own blended grain whisky ... so we did actually end up with a sample of the full gamut after all, albiet in a slightly unconventional way! Single Malts: This is perhaps the most revered category of Scotch whisky. To earn this title, a whisky must be made from 100% malted barley and distilled at a single distillery in a copper pot still.

People sometimes think that the word ‘single’ simply means that the whisky comes from a single barrel, but this isn’t the case. Almost all single malt scotch whiskies are mixes of whisky from different casks and of varying ages that a single distillery has in stock.

Distilleries do sometimes bottle up whisky that comes from a single cask, but this will be explicitly labelled on the bottle as a ‘single cask’ release.

Single Grains:

Like single malts, in order to be called a single grain whisky, the whisky needs to be produced at a single distillery. The word ‘grain' refers to the ingredients used: unlike a single malt whisky which can only be made from 100% malted barley, a single grain whisky can be made from different cereal grains, such as barley, rye, wheat and corn, which in turn may be malted or unmalted. Because the word ‘single’ refers to the fact that the whisky is produced at a single distillery and not that it is made from a single type of grain, single grain whiskies can be made from a mix of more than one type of grain.

Single grain whiskies are also typically made in continuous stills, which allows for large-scale production, and most single grain whiskies end up in blends. But you can find a few single grain whiskies out there, and on their own they’re often lighter and more delicate than single malts.

Distilleries in Scotland tend to focus on producing either malt whiskies or grain whiskies. There are far fewer grain distilleries than there are malt distilleries, with only 8 grain distilleries compared to the 139 devoted to producing malt whisky.

Blended Malts:

Blended malt whisky is simply a blend of single malts from two or more different distilleries. This category of Scotch has seen a rise in popularity in recent years. If you’re a big fan of single malt whisky, you have every reason to be excited about this category of Scotch too - the idea behind this category is simply that one is less limited when making whisky (i.e., you’re not restricted to the whisky from just one distillery), and so there is the potential to create something really great simply by mixing together what two (or more) magnificent distilleries have to offer. Blended Grains: The category of Scotch whisky we didn't officially end up getting our hands on - they are made from a blend of two or more single grain scotch whiskies from different distilleries. This is a pretty rare style of Scotch, and we've only really heard of a couple of whiskies that fit the bill - "Hedonism" from Compass Box being one of them.

Blended Whisky:

This is the most popular style of Scotch whisky. Blends account for over 90% of sales of Scotch whisky worldwide. A blended whisky is simply a mixture of single malt whiskies and single grain whiskies from different distilleries. The idea behind them is to create a consistent, approachable, and well-balanced flavour profile. In fact, blended whisky became popular in the 19th century because single malts were often considered too intense for casual drinkers. This is the category of Scotch whisky most people are likely to first encounter. It is worth noting that in spite of blended whisky's reputation for being an easy or approachable introduction to whisky, you do get some very sophisticated blended whiskies that can certainly rival the complexity of single malts.

For this particular event we tasted the following whiskies:

• Haig Club Clubman – a single grain whisky produced at Cameronbridge, famously endorsed by David Beckham.

• Dewar’s 15 (The Monarch) – a 15-year-old blended whisky

• Compass Box Orchard House – a fruity blended malt whisky

• Glenmorangie Triple Cask Reserve – a no-age-statement single malt whisky (aged in part in ex-rye casks, which is fairly rare in the Scotch whisky industry)

• Loch Lomond Peated Single Grain – a peated single grain whisky, unusual in that it is made from 100% malted barley like a single malt (but it’s distilled using column stills, not pot stills)

• Talisker 10 – a peaty 10-year-old single malt from the Isle of Skye

We finished off the evening with some wonderful platters from The Bakery. Our standard practice is to save the food for after the actual tasting of whisky to ensure we don't confuse our palates while trying to detect the range of subtle flavours in the whiskies themselves.