Blend
Also known as: blended whisky
In short
A blend is a marriage: whiskies from different casks and houses are composed into one characterful whole. We explain blended whisky versus single malt and why the blend has nothing to do with the blender.
In depth
What is a blend?
A blend is a marriage of several distillates: whiskies from different casks, often from different distilleries, are composed into one characterful whole. In the Scotch world blended whisky stands next to single malt, which comes from one single distillery and is distilled exclusively from malted barley.
The craft behind it
Every cask tastes a little different, the blend keeps the character constant over years. The master blender is responsible for that, and the craft is composition rather than chance. Where the blend sits in the whiskey family is in our round: "Scotch makes the dignity, bourbon the sweetness, rye the spice, Tennessee the smoothness."
Do not mix it up
A blend is not a machine: the blender from our entry of the same name mixes frozen drinks, the blend marries distillates. Both words come from English to blend, but they mean different worlds.
Remember this one
"The base makes the character, the ABV makes the strength, the blend makes the connection."
At our lounge
Ask when a blend lands in your glass: composition is something you can taste.