Whyte & Mackay No Age Statement ‘Special’ (40%, OB, “Double Marriage Blend”+/-2009)

This is the key to the blend’s success – time allows the aged malts to amalgamate and harmonise. The ‘vatted malt or blended malt’, as it is now known, is held in sherry butts and left for several months during its first marriage. Once again time is called upon. The blended malt is then mixed with six different grain whiskies and returned to another set of sherry butts to complete its second stage of maturation before it is finally bottled.(This bit was lifted, verbatim, from W&M’s website).

The nose is full grain whisky with some light heather, mint and some vague herbs backed by sweet cereals, raisins, pear, vanilla and sherry. The grain contribution is quite evident and is very pleasant. The taste is at first very much like cereal along with the sweetness and sherry notes; the mouth feel is very soft and at times both malty and of grain whisky. It is very flavorful and gentle. The finish is also gentle and sweet with the malt taking a back seat to the grain whiskies however this does not detract; the grain gives way to fruit and even Christmas cake and a ever so slight hint of cured tobacco and some oak notes.

Hmmm, tasty and well balanced for any whisky, well done.

Score 82 points

C$25

At Whisky Intelligence we do not drag out the garlic juice, 1,000,000 candle power arc lights and wooden stakes at the first sign of a blended whisky and generally celebrate them while recognizing the economics of the situation that without blended whiskies there wouldn’t be any single malts. During the next few days we’ll be examining a few blended whiskies but next week it’ll be back to the malts!