What is Blended Whisky?

Blended whisky came to be almost by accident.  In the 1800’s glass was expensive, and it was common for customers to bring their own bottles to shops and have them filled from casks of whisky.  This would sometimes result in a mix of whisky occurring in the bottle.  Also often times these casks would be refilled or topped up with different whiskies of different strengths, grains, malts.  As a result, some shops became famous for their blended whiskies that they began controlling so that the whisky would be consistent every time.  As such rules came into play so that blended whiskies were also regulated.  Blending whiskies can occur by happy accident but makes more sense to use scientific methods for it to occur.  Just as pairing foods or creating recipes one must pay attention to the flavour profiles that are present in the whisky.  Generally, you want the flavour profiles to complement each other to create a stronger flavour profile present in the final product.  This is also a safer method.  There are contrasting flavour profiles that work well as well.  An example of that is a strong smoky profile with the tart sweetness of red berries.  Below we take a look at 4 of the biggest whisky producers and what blended whisky means to each.

Scotland.

Blended Malt Whisky: whisky made by combining single malt whiskies from different distilleries.

Blended Grain Whisky: whisky made by combining single grain whiskies from different distilleries.

Blended Whisky: whisky made by combining malt whisky and grain whisky.

Canada.

Most Canadian whiskies are blends.

Ireland.

Irish blended whiskey is a blend of two or more different whiskey types among the pot still, malt, and grain whiskey categories.

United States.

American "blended whiskey" – alternatively labeled as "whiskey – a blend" – must contain a minimum of 20% straight whiskey. Blended whiskey that contains a minimum of 51% straight whiskey of one particular grain type (i.e., rye, malt, wheat, or bourbon whiskey) includes the grain type in its label description (e.g., "blended rye whiskey" or "blended bourbon whiskey"). Spirits containing less than 20% straight whiskey but greater than 5% whiskey of any kind can be labeled "spirit whiskey".

Sources:

https://whiskymag.com/story/the-gentle-art-of-blending

https://blog.thewhiskyexchange.com/2017/05/what-is-blended-whisky-a-beginners-guide/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blended_whiskey