Two Interesting Blends

Bart,

I have seen the cheaper "Dew" version, although, like you, haven't taken the plunge. I'll keep a lookout for this in the ma and pa's that have slow movers.

Yes, I bought this one several years ago after a local retailer was blowing out the W&M 30, which I absolutely loved. I also picked up the W&M n.a.s. "Extra Strength" 52.5% version at a d-f airport shop. By comparison to those two, the 12yo was a bit of a letdown, but I have since revisited it with a fresh perspective.

I've never picked up much of "Dalmore" marker in any of the W&M blends, but they all seem to share that honeyed, wine gum character, which Murray attributes to Perthshire whisky. There's some spice and chocolate and Speyside Pear in there and what seems to me like that viney Glen Grant element.

It's probably hard to pinpoint any one distillery characteristic because there's over 30 different malts that are vatted together and matured and half a dozen grains which are vatted to the malts and then returned to casks for a second "marrying" period. I'd venture a guess that the grains feature at least some Cambus which adds that sweet silky sophistication.

I didn't get the peat and sherry that you did, but the whisky does have a very nice, long finish. My overall impression of this whisky is "juicy". I was surprised at how oaky it is for a 12yo and I have always likened this expression as the "Chardonnay lover's whisky". To me, it has the same buttery, but crisp elements and a very sophisticated demeanor, with the prototypical "moreish" quality. If you seek a sherry monster expression, then the W&M 30yo is right up your alley.

At $16USD, I'd buy out their stock of the 12yo. I have always wanted to order a W&M 21 from overseas, but with the exchange rates lately it is a bit too dear. If you don't mind, what was the price locally? Was it in the older blue ceramic bottle or the newer fancy glass version?

I recently purchased two expressions of "Ambassador", the 12 and the 21. I have to say that I preferred the 12yo. BTW, my everyday "house blend" lately is a vatting of Buchanan's 12, JWB and topped off with Lombard's Tidal Ebb. Twelve years seems to be a sweet spot for most blended Scotch.

Sláinte, Bushido

I would be lucky to pick out any malt from a blend, unless it was pretty obvious, as the Glen Garioch in the Duggans 12 seemed to be.

And there I had several hints. The stylized distillery logo on the cap that I mentioned I've since found on the tops of some of the M-B products - just one more confirmation of the relationship of this blend bottled for Duggans and M-B.

(Of course if I'm wrong and there's no GG there at all that would be interesting too - and I'd learn something from it.)

(Duggans doesn't have any web prescence. I found a phone number for a corporate office but I can't imagine that whoever answers the phones would have any info on the constituents of a particular blend they sold the better part of a decade ago.)

All that time in wood after intial aging in the original casks seems to make this product less of an ordinary blend and more of a creation in its own right. It's certainly a very full-tasting blend, and pleasing to someone like myself who finds many blends to be mild and thin - essentially "blanded" whiskies.

I'll stand by the sherry, but partially recant on the peat. I posted "Two Interesting Blends" the night I opened the W&M as I was nearly finished with the Duggans. So my remarks on the Duggans was sort of a "considered opinion" while those on the W&M were more of a "first impression". I do get little whiffs of peat, especially in the finish, but "mild Islay" overstates the case. I'm just so pleased to find *any* peatiness in a blend that I wandered into a little unwitting exaggeration.

It was a glass bottle - sort of tear-drop flask shape like the old Balvenie bottles and has a heavy metal plate at the shoulder ("suitable for engraving"). Looked pretty fancy. Price was about 70 USD I believe. They had a bottle of the 30yo too, in a glass display case with some expensive cognacs. It wasn't priced - one of those "If you have to ask you can't afford it" sort of things. I had to ask. At a good bit over $300 I couldn't afford it, either. I've never seen any Whyte and MacKay blends in any other store in town and don't know how long they've sat there.

As ever, thanks for the info!

Bart

Whyte&Mackay as a brand, is infinitely more popular in the UK than here in the states. I don't know why their distributorship pulled up stakes several years ago. Locally, it was Munson Shaw in Deerfield, IL. Their garden variety n.a.s. is also quite good. Murray references that the malts in that one are between 4 and 8 years old, vatted together for 4 months, then the grains are added and a futher 4 months maturing as a blended whisky takes place. There are very few scotch whiskies that undergo such a process. Blue Hanger is another one that comes to mind.

A couple of things help the W&M12 stand out, the higher proof at 43% is certainly one of them. The quality of the grain whisky also contributes to the fat, silky character as opposed to thinning it out and adding bitterness, like a lesser blended might. Murray calls it a fine bittersweet balance and "chewy" and I'd be hard pressed to argue.

Hey, there probably is quite a bit of sherry and some peat in there, I just didn't find it. Without a doubt, I got some "juicy fruit" notes which I have come to associate with sherry casks in blends, just not bags of it. I've never thought of the W&M line as being on the smoky side of the blended whisky equation though. Certainly not in the league with stonkers like JWB or Teacher's. It is probably an artifact of my Ardbeg-jaded palate, that the more subtle peaty influences might escape me. When I think of a rich sherried blended, Grand Old Parr 12 and Grant's The Gordon Highlanders come to mind.

I wouldn't pay that kind of money for the W&M30, but it is a fantastic whisky! Right up there in the pantheon of blendeds with Grant's Rare and Extraordinary, and Cutty 25. Those old grains are unbelieveably bourbony, but the malts just twist it in a whole different way. I always have my eye on the Ballantine's 30, waiting for another blow-out sale.

These older blendeds are very expensive, more than their malt counterparts, but they are infinitely harder to produce. I just read that Dewar's has issued a n.a.s. "Signature" that contains 27yo Aberfeldy. I'll bet the reason there's no age statement is that they couldn't get enough older quality grains. To blend these ancient whiskies into something wonderful and vital is a bit of the alchemist's art in modern times.

Sláinte, Bushido

regarding the Whyte & MacKay 21yo...

Actually price is closer to $80

and...

What I remembered as the W&M 30yo was actually the Ballantines 30yo.

The only W&M's I've seen are the 12yo and the 21yo.

Bart

Why is Scotch whiskey made in USED barrels imported from the United States? It seems like barrels would mold and sour while in transport. Would this effect the taste quality of the Scotch whiskey? Why not just drink American made Kentucky Bourbon whiskey. It is made in NEW barrel, never in USED barrels.

Hi Kyrustic

Scotch WHISKY is matured in used cask (not always x-bourbon!, but most frequently) because a fresh barrel would "destroy" a scotch, bourbon is apparently a "tougher" liquid and can stand it. So the reason is just that it's the way to get the best product. Used Sherry Casks are also very popular and Port, Madeira and Wine Casks are also used, often as finishes, that's a short final storage to give taste from the wines casks to the whisky. Bourbon Casks doesn't give any bourbon taste to a scotch, but sherry casks gives it a sherry taste A lot of Scotch single malts are actually a blend (When blending Malts the term is actually a vatting) of different cask, ie Glenfiddich 12y Special Old Reserve is a vat of bourbon cask (80%) and Sherry Casks (20%) if my memory is correct The cask are resused 2 or 3 times, but some destilleries will only use casks once

Casks are often separated before transported to Scotland and collected again. They are burned (charred) inside before reuse

MacDeffe

On Mon, 31 May 2004 10:33:22 -0400, the alleged kyrustic, may have top-posted the following, to alt.drinks.scotch-whisky:

^ Ahemm... Some Scotch whisky is aged in Bourbon barrels. More is aged in other types of casks. As to why, to impart a flavo[u]r that the master- distiller has found to enhance the whisky.

Why would the barrels mold and sour in transport? Especially if they were full of Bourbon while being transported? Did you think that the Bourbon casks were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean empty?

^a

Bourbon whiskey and Scotch whisky are very different beasts.

Bourbon is made from more than a 50% corn (maize) mash and Scotch is made from

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