Johnny Walker blends malts all the time. Blue Label includes Lagavulin ... The real crime in my book is adding ice My point is that a tiny dram of another whisky has a chance of improving the single malt, which itself is likely a blend of many barrels, Bit like changing a power cord on a CD transport really |
While I looooove Laphroaig, Lagavulin, and yes The Macallan, my favorite for a while now has been the ridiculously affordable Bunnahabhain 12. As far as blending goes, the practice has definitely gotten bad press over the decades, but there are plenty of really great blends available. It's simply a way to highlight the character/strengths of more than one whisky in a single dram. In fact, my "daily drinker" has been The Famous Grouse for years - a bit of peat, a bit of fruit, and a balanced finish that is so satisfying. @richardbrand +1 on the "no ice" rule, but I do add a single or sometimes two drops of distilled water to my glass. I was very skeptical of how this could possibly change the profile of a potable with such a strong flavor to begin with, but one taste test later I was convinced. FWIW, I use "pretty good" PCs in my system (all AQ ranging from their Z series through Monsoon), but I confess I have not done a listening test, blind or otherwise. I can say I am a sucker for a pretty face, and they do look nicer than stock PCs. |
@richardbrand I’m aware. But you’re not Johnny Walker. |
I am old enough to remember when blending whiskies indeed was banned. I recall their was once a similar sensible law for power cables as well. Copper was copper and silver was silver, no mixing permitted. Now they are allowed to blend all sorts of metals together- blasphemy! Why did we allow them to rescind that law? Now they have all sorts of mutts in the mix- tin plated copper, silver/copper, silver/gold, silver/gold/copper/palladium. What will they do next? use carbon and graphene? Gonna sound like shite. They are all doing it! Shunyata, Nordost, Audioquest, and even the newer little family distilleries that have popped up over years- Snake River, Zavfino, Acoustic Zen have their own blends with their "signature" flavours. Bollocks! I did find one with a sensible name that uses a single grain. Audio Sensibility, but I see they import their ingredients from a foreign country! Oh well, might as well get adjusted with the changing times. Maybe there is something my palette can tolerate and find acceptable. |
