WHISKY AND FUN ARE THE PERFECT BLEND
Blair Bowman celebrates blended malts
BBlair Bowman celebrates the fun side of whisky with the new generation of blended malts
lended malt whisky seems to be on the up at the moment. Formerly known as vatted malt or pure malt whisky – although those terms are now outlawed – a blended malt is, as you might imagine, a blend of malt whiskies that does not contain any grain whisky. If it contained grain whisky it would be simply a blended whisky such as Bell’s or Famous Grouse.
Blended malt whiskies have been a workhorse of independent bottlers such as Compass Box, Douglas Laing and Wemyss Malts, who all have blended malts in their core range. Popular examples include Compass Box’s Spice Tree and Peat Monster, Douglas Laing’s Remarkable Regional Malts series and Wemyss Malts’ The Hive, Spice King and Peat Chimney.
For independent bottlers, the benefit of creating blended malt, or simply blended whisky is that they can create innovative and interesting flavour-focused products. These products tend to be non-age statements. If there is an age on the label of a whisky this shows the age of the youngest component in the vatting, but if there is no age on the label the blender can work with whiskies of any age (all Scotch whiskies must be at least three-years-old) and not be constrained by this factor.
The other clever thing about independent bottlers creating blended malts is that if their supply of a particular whisky stops, then they can always adjust and tweak the recipe with a whisky of a similar flavour profile and not have to change the packaging or marketing. This allows new entrants a relatively quick way to create a brand and product based around flavour, such as Peat Reekers, an exciting new blend of Islay malt whiskies.
In the Johnnie Walker range of coloured labels, Green Label has always been a blended malt while the other Johnnie Walker Labels are all blended whiskies. In 2012, Johnnie Walker Green Label was discontinued worldwide, apart from Taiwan where there was a spike in demand for this particular blended malt. The decision to stop distributing Green Label caused quite an uproar online and in 2016 Diageo, who own Johnnie Walker, reintroduced the Green Label worldwide again.
The blended malt whisky that has made by far and away the largest waves in the cocktail scene, and which has shaken off the tweed blazer and leather armchair image of single malts, has been Monkey Shoulder, owned by William Grant & Sons. Originally launched in 2005 with the aim of ‘demystifying malt whisky’ it was created with the intention that it works just as well neat, on the rocks or in a cocktail, hence their current strapline of ‘100% Malt, Made for Mixing’.
Monkey Shoulder was the name given to a repetitive strain disorder that maltmen at Scottish distilleries would get after a hard day’s work turning malt by hand. Their arms would hang a bit limp after shovelling malt, hence the name.
The brand is insatiably fun and arguably its success is down to the fact that it has successfully engaged the on-trade, namely craft cocktail bars globally. It is understood that their brand ambassador team, many of them former bartenders, are given free rein on marketing and brand activations as their connection with the cocktail scene means their ideas will outperform those of any office-based marketeer.
Prime examples of Monkey Shoulder’s fun concepts include the iSpoon, a retractable bar spoon, ideal for the travelling bartender. Or the Konga Shaker, a reproduction of an original 1930s style cocktail shaker. In the summer of 2018 Monkey Shoulder launched their Monkey Mixer truck, essentially a cement mixer converted into an 11,000 litre pre-mixed cocktail dispenser. Travelling to music festivals and events it features a built-in DJ booth and fully retractable bar. I saw the Monkey Mixer truck while in New Orleans at Tales of the Cocktail in July and it is both original and bloody good fun.
Hot on the heels of William Grant & Sons’ success with Monkey Shoulder is Copper Dog, another blend in which Diageo have a minority stake. Launched at the end of 2016 it seems to be gathering a strong foothold. Its signature serve is an Apple Dog, which combines freshly pressed granny smith apples and Copper Dog whisky, which is a tasty mix that is a great example of a gateway into the wider whisky category.
Most recently Whyte & Mackay have joined the blended malt party with the launch of Woodsman blended malt whisky, and before that with Shackleton blended malt whisky. Again, this is a fun, not too serious brand, which mixes well but equally works well neat or on the rocks.
It is really exciting to see these new blended malt brands start to make waves because they are great ambassadors for the drink and prove that whisky can be a lot of fun.
They can create innovative and flavourfocused products