Traditionally, blended Scotch whiskies have all the time been King. This stays the case regardless of single malt gross sales rising considerably over the past twenty years. To place this into context: Glenfiddich, the most important promoting Scotch single malt, doesn’t promote as many bottles annually as any of the ten whiskies on our record under.
Many of those large blended Scotch manufacturers started in humble environment throughout the Victorian period, with a number of conceived at grocery shops in numerous places round Scotland. The proprietors blended whiskies from native distilleries simply as they had been mixing teas, coffees and spices that had been arriving from across the British Empire. The names of those early whisky pioneers are actually engrained in our tradition.
What’s a Blended Scotch?
Label 5
A blended Scotch is a whisky that marries collectively two or extra single malts, typically many extra, from totally different distilleries with single grain whisky. Single malts are made out of 100% barley. Single grain can made out of any cereal that’s not barley – that is usually wheat as of late, though maize has been used prior to now.
The one grain is used as a basis upon which the totally different notes of the one malts are layered. This creates the aroma and flavour profile that the Grasp Blender is on the lookout for. The infinite potential combos give unbelievable flexibility and breadth to push the ultimate whisky’s character in any chosen course.
The Greatest Promoting Blended Scotch Manufacturers
Ballantine’s
This traditional outdated mix is one born out of the Victorian grocery retailer state of affairs. George Ballantine opened his store in Edinburgh in 1827 and began blended and maturing his personal whiskies some years later. The remaining, as they are saying, is historical past.
The model grew quickly and was first exported within the Eighties. The cornerstone of the award-winning vary is Ballantine’s Most interesting, which was launched over a century in the past in 1910. This whisky has helped Ballantine’s turn out to be the world’s second largest promoting Scotch whisky model.
Candy, delicate and light-weight.
Purchase now at Amazon
Black & White
A superb mix that was initially referred to as Home of Commons in a hat tip to the British Parliament. Its creator was London-based James Buchanan, and he designed the now-famous brand that includes two canine – a black Scottish Terrier and white West Highland Terrier – within the Nineties on the way in which dwelling from a canine present.
The pair proved so well-liked that Buchanan needed to finally bow to public strain and alter the title completely. Black & White is large in France and big in South America, which is its essential market right this moment.
Purchase now at Grasp Of Malt
Chivas Regal
John and James Chivas had been farmers-turned-grocers who had a large affect on the whisky trade in and round Aberdeen. The brothers’ grocery store within the Granite Metropolis acquired a Royal Warrant from Queen Victoria in 1843, with their whiskies served at close by Balmoral.
The primary bottling beneath the Chivas Regal title appeared in 1909. The very best-selling Chivas Regal 12 years outdated expression was launched in 1939 following the lifting of Prohibition in America a number of years earlier.
Wealthy and candy with Speyside malts at its coronary heart.
Purchase now at The Whisky Alternate
Dewar’s
John Dewar’s small wine and spirits retailers in Perth was the birthplace of this well-liked whisky. Based in 1846, Dewar started mixing native whiskies, as was the style on the time. The model actually took off within the Eighties and unfold throughout the British Empire quickly.
The flagship White Label was launched in 1899 and stays the most important vendor within the vary, and by a great distance. Dewar’s has gone on to be the world’s most awarded blended Scotch whisky with over 1,000 medals gathered through the years.
Fruity, honeyed and easy.
Purchase now at The Whisky Alternate
Well-known Grouse
Like John Dewar, Matthew Gloag was a wine service provider in Perth. Nevertheless, it was his nephew, additionally named Matthew Gloag, who would later create the well-known mix. The Grouse first appeared in 1896, named after the small chook that inhabits the slopes of the close by Cairngorm mountains.
It modified to Well-known Grouse in 1905, with Gloag’s daughter drawing the now-iconic grouse character for the label. At present a number of variants can be found together with the peaty Black Grouse.
Candy and honeyed with a whisp of distant smoke.
Purchase now at Amazon
Grant’s
William Grant kickstarted his whisky dynasty in 1887 when he famously constructed the Glenfiddich distillery in Speyside by hand with the assistance of his six kids. Quick ahead a decade and he launched the inaugural iteration of Grant’s mix. The enduring triangular bottle was launched within the Fifties and has turn out to be synonymous with the model.
The one grain comes from Grant’s personal Girvan distillery, which sits perched on the Ayrshire coast. William Grant & Sons stays independently owned and one among Scotch’s true whisky innovators.
Purchase now at The Whisky Alternate
J & B
J & B Uncommon is a whisky developed by the well-known outdated London wine retailers of Justerini & Brooks. They noticed a chance for a lightweight and delicate Speyside-led Scotch mix in post-Prohibition America within the early Nineteen Thirties. As soon as Prohibition lifted in 1933, they flooded the market and inside twenty years it was promoting over six million bottles there per yr.
Now, J & B’s heartland is southern Europe the place it’s marketed as a ‘occasion whisky’ and infrequently offered with a mixer. Its gentle, grassy and contemporary notes are good for a scorching local weather.
Purchase now at Amazon
Johnnie Walker
The world’s best-selling blended Scotch whisky. Not solely is Johnnie Walker in first place however it outsells its nearest rival, Ballantine’s, two to at least one. The Pink and Black Labels account for the lion’s share of gross sales, however the vary is huge and caters for all tastes.
All of it started simply over 200 years in the past in a small grocery store in Kilmarnock, a small city to the south of Glasgow. John Walker started mixing his personal whiskies and used an angled label to face out from his opponents. Two centuries later the model’s continuous innovation has eclipsed everybody.
Purchase now at Amazon
Label 5
The Label 5 mix was created by Frenchman Jean Cayard in 1969. His firm, La Martiniquaise, stay as homeowners right this moment. The Traditional Black expression underpins the vary, which has expanded lately to incorporate 12- and 18-year-old variants.
The model is big in France however can also be loved in over 100 international locations worldwide. Label 5 embraces trendy tradition and infrequently launch restricted campaigns with musicians and road artists.
Count on loads of apple, vanilla and toffee with cereals and a pinch of cinnamon.
Purchase now at Amazon
William Lawson’s
This fruity, daring and candy mix has a excessive single malt content material, which provides further complexity and character.
William Lawson’s grew out of a amalgamation of quite a few corporations within the Nineteen Sixties. It’s named after William Lawson – a outstanding Scottish whisky bottler, blender and exporter who rose to prominence within the Eighties.
Speyside and Highland whiskies drive the expressive flavour profile with France, Mexico, Russia, Spain and Portugal being its essential markets. Persistently within the high 10 for years, typically pushing high 5.
Purchase now at Amazon
