Why are blends so popular?

Are blends so much popular because they are smoother or taste better to the majority of people? I am not referring to the cheap stuff in plastic bottles but to the premium blends.

In your opinion, really what are the characteristics of the SM that you prefer over a good blend? I wonder how many of us could tell the difference in a blind taste test.

Willie

Reply to
William Saens
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Yes. They are smoother, and taste better, in the opinion of most drinkers who are not enthusiastic lovers of the special tastes of scotch whisky. For the same reason they are much less popular with most posters to this group. Their milder flavors are designed not to offend anyone, so as to appeal to the largest group of people possible. But there is little to get excited over either, except consistency. An old freind of mine use to call them "blands" or "blanded whisky". If you like the taste of a blend you can trust it to always taste about the same.

Single malts, on the other hand, may have powerful distinctive flavors. They may be bottled from as few as a single cask and have subtle qualities derived from that particular barrel or small parcel of barrels - unique, never to be repeated flavors. (Although distillers strive for consistency in their standard "principal version" and regular edition single malts.)

There are some really good blends, though, which are as enjoyable as any single malt (well, almost) and more enjoyable than many.

One characteristic that tends to identify a whisky as a blend is a short clean finish, much shorter than a typical single malt. (Some malts do have a short finish though.) Also, one can learn to recognize the flavor of grain whiskies. They are not as flavorful, certainly not as distinctive as malts of the same age, but they are not flavorless either, and for most blends they make up more than

50 percent of the blend.

Bart

Reply to
Bart

I like to think of Single Malts as the ultimate expression of locale (terrain or some such french word is used for this same idea in wines). You get the flavors imparted by the location, the distiller's skill, the weather, the particular crop of barley and so on. Many of these flavors are subtle and require time to note.

Reply to
quvatlh

I think (but I'm not sure) that the best malt would usually be reserved for single malt, rather than using it in blends. Also, older casks tened to be used in blends, sometimes fourth and fifth fill. I think if there was good investment and attention paid to a particular blend, there's no reason why it wouldn't stand a chance of being great.

Reply to
brockagh

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