The overlooked superstars of whisky

At its simplest, a blended whisky is one which combines whiskies of two types or places, but that obscures how diverse and interesting a category this is. Grain whiskies are generally lighter and more delicate, so in addition to reducing cost, they also allow a blender to balance flavours with greater precision. This explains in great part the dominance of blended whisky today – more control for less money. This doesn’t necessarily mean it’s inferior, as smaller outfits like Compass Box, Thompson Bros or Woven demonstrate. That’s without touching on Irish or Japanese whisky traditions, or indeed blended malt whiskies, where only single malts go into the final blend. Blends contain worlds – thankfully that’s territory well worth exploring.

Learn more