Smell: Toffee apples and salted caramel. Red berries. Varnished oak. Creosote. Buttered rum. Raisin. Leather. Cinnamon and ginger. Blended Scotch Whisky A blended whisky is the production of whisky using one or more whiskies from a different distillery. So if we have Glenlivet single malt and we mix it with another Glenlivet single malt it is still as single malt. However if we mixed that single malt with a Glenfiddich it is now blended whisky, simples. This allows whiskies of lesser age and personality to be used to blend flavours together and make a cheap alternative to single malt. There’s always talk of blended whisky not being nearly as good as its closest competitor the single mal, but we beg to differ here at The Whisky Company. When the weather warms and your looking for something a little more thirst quenching and cooler you should turn to some excellent blended whiskies. Some examples of blended whisky are Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal, Bells, Jameson Irish Whisky, Canadian Club, Seagram’s Seven American Whiskey and let’s not forget some of those extra special Japanese brands including Hibiki. Some new blended whisky in the market now is the Pure Scot blend from Bladnoch Distillery and Hibiki Harmony from Suntory. These whiskies can be taken straight, on ice or mixed to make a refreshing contemporary drink… On the nose, you’ll find aromas of dried cherries, brown sugar, molasses, and cinnamon. On the palate, you’ll be treated to flavors of buttery caramel, crisp apples, citrus zest, vanilla beans, and subtle spices. The finish is long, warming, very dry, and ends with a nice combination of sweet vanilla cream and cinnamon sugar. Only 1,920 bottles of this single malt were released for the UK market. This Balvenie offering was matured for 17 years in casks which previously held Jamaican rum.” Some of these whiskies appeal to fans of single malts or blends that appreciate extra sweet vanilla and caramel flavor. This is the whisky for drinkers who also appreciate bold smoke bombs. It’s on par with pairing a glass of rum with a fine cigar. The Glenlivet Caribbean Reserve The Glenlivet

Take the newest kid in Dufftown, Glenfiddich Fire & Cane, which unites delicious peat and sweet rum casks for the first time. “This new single malt truly encapsulates the spirit of experimentation,” malt master Brian Kinsman said in a statement last month. It must be a combination of time and cask type that eventually brings those wonderful darker heavier rum cask notes, that i sometimes think can blend with sherry cask notes. Overall i think this is a very enjoyable Irish Single malt whiskey, it had all i hoped for and more in all honesty. Price wise, it’s an Irish whiskey, they don’t come cheap, and it’s a bottle i’d love to have in my whisk(e)y cubboard. The nose makes you believe you’re definitely not imbibing a cheap blend. It’s ripe with molasses, vanilla beans, charred wood, and citrus. Your palate will be dancing with notes of candied orange peels, mint, buttery caramel, and dried fruits. The finish is sweet, warm, and ends with a nice dollop of creamy caramel. I still find independent bottlings from the early 2000s, but could I afford it? Probably just a tiny dram,” he continues – whereas these days you can find a half-decent rum cask-finished whisky in your local supermarket. Times are a’changing.If you’re a fan of Scotch whisky, you’re probably well aware of the popularity of aging and resting in sherry butts and sherry seasoned casks. The Macallan, Glenmorangie, The Balvenie, and GlenDronach are well-known for utilizing the sweet, dried fruit flavors imparted by remnant sherry during the secondary aging process. But as that trend has become commonplace, distilleries have searched to find the next big thing. Single malt from the excellent Balcones distillery in Waco, Texas, which has been given a finishing period in casks that previously held rum! A very exciting expression indeed from these innovative distillers…” With ‘gooey caramel, helpings of apricots, dark chocolate, bittersweet vanilla and soft baking spices’, you’d be forgiven for assuming this tasting note was describing Ron Zacapa or El Dorado. In actuality, it documents the deliciousness of BenRiach 22 Year Old Dark Rum Cask Finish, which saw out the final period of its maturation in dark rum barrels from Jamaica. If you can find this bottle, buy it. It’s a highly flavorful, easily sippable whisky that is way cheaper than it should be. Just don’t let the folks at Spey River in on this fact. Dewar’s Caribbean Smooth Dewar

No wonder really. Whisky producers “need to be creative with new expressions to surprise enthusiasts,” remarks Etus. And with strict rules and regulations to adhere to, distillers need to think outside of the proverbial box to offer something unique. Kinsman married peated malt with non-peated malt aged in ex-bourbon casks, and finished the liquid in Latin rum casks. The result? Given tasting notes of campfire smoke, baked apple, toasted marshmallow and wood spice i.e. Bonfire Night in a bottle. It launches in the UK in October. Rum vs. Scotch legislationWell, a 25 year old Bushmills, matured solely in Caribbean rum casks for that whole period of time, that’s non chill filtered and presented at natural cask strength. If you’ve spoken to me on whisky zoom tastings or on social media in general you’ll most likely know that my whisk(e)y trail started in the mid 1980’s with Irish whiskey. I stayed with the Irish whiskey for several years before trying scotch whisky for the first time. For me, trying this whiskey is an immense privilege, it happens to be the oldest Irish whiskey iv’e tasted too. so trying to keep a neutral head on my shoulders, what did i think of it? Dewar’s is one of the biggest names in the blended scotch world (along with Chivas, Famous Grouse, and Johnnie Walker). Its fairly new Caribbean Smooth expression is a blend of 40 single malts and grain whiskies. All have been matured for at least eight years. The blend is finished in former Caribbean rum casks for six additional months. There is some disagreement about the origin of the sugar cane plant from which rum is made: information on this varies spatially between Papua New Guinea, China, Indonesia, India and the Philippines and temporally between 10,000 and 6,000 BC. But it is certain that the sugar cane plant reached the Middle East through trade in the first century AD, and over time the sugar juice obtained found its way to Central Europe via the Mediterranean countries. In 1493, Christopher Columbus brought sugar cane to the Caribbean. Specifically to the island of Hispaniola, which today is divided between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Here it is cultivated on a large scale. At that time, the molasses, the waste product of sugar production, was still given as food to slaves or animals working on sugar plantations. I poured a decent drop of it, and covered the glass for 20-25 minutes, i wanted the big initial thought aroma wise, and i have to say that nose is quite unique. In tasting nearly 800 drams so far, and this one brings perfumed/floral aromas to begin with, iv’e not tried a whisk(e)y that opened with these before. The development it is nicely paced, and stoned fruits appear, followed by darker almost smokey aromas.

There will always be a space for whisky diluted to 40%. That’s something I’ve come to appreciate in recent years. I fully admit to being something of a cask strength snob in the past. Having said that, where this Rum Cask Finish was concerned, I kept thinking that it could really have done with a little extra heft. A bit more body, a bit more strength and we really could have been onto something here. Unfortunately, however, it all felt somehow… inconsequential. The Jura Cask Finish series is said to be ideal for people looking to explore new flavours. At 40% abv, I’m not sure this is the direction I’d point people if they wanted to try out rum maturation but for fans of the Jura brand who want to experience a new direction, I can certainly see the appeal.Where the whisky sleeps is of utmost importanceMazuch advocates introducing legal structures within the rum category, and says the current state of affairs doesn’t result in “an even playing field”. “Bringing in regulations would [result in] a greater appreciation for the rum and therefore the whiskies that are finished in those casks,” he says. When it was first released in 2002, it carried the name “Havana Reserve,” but due to an embargo with Cuba, the name had to be changed to “Gran Reserva.” It still consists of a Glenfiddich single malt that was aged for 21 years in traditional oak casks before spending the last four months of the aging process in Caribbean rum barrels. Records the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.