Why don't you try some blending?

As stated in previous posts, people have this undue snobbery of the idea of single malts. A lot of this is based entirely on the idea that they've been told: that single malts are the way to go and that blends are somehow less. More often that not people hear and understand this before they've taken enough time to make a decision themselves.

A lot of blended scotches have been blended to provide people with a less expensive alternative to expensive single malts. They've evolved into that. In the past they may have been created this way to give the consumer a more balanced taste using younger and less expensive scotches. But I think now money is the main driving force and this has been done at the expense of taste, and also to appeal to a wider audience that isn't actually looking for much in their scotch experience. Your J & B Rare (don't get me started about the term 'rare') and your Grant's Family Reserve are basic and simple. Then you have your Johnnie Walker Black Label that makes a claim to be a higher end product, but falls short.

However, I think that people really need to get over the idea that single malt is better than a blend, no matter what. It's simply not true. Some single malts have a simple profile and they could definitely be improved by blending. But people seem to hold single malts to a different level, a level that shouldn't be tainted by the idea of blending. Maybe this think if they're going to spend $50 or more of a bottle of something, they shouldn't experiment with the presentation.

But here's an idea and it came about because the blends available in Canada often aren't that great: If you can't buy a good blend, why not do it yourself? I suggest that you do the blending! The idea when I first considered it, seemed crazy, 'who am I to be the person that blends?' I thought, I'm not trained in this and I have no skill. But you know what, after seeing a couple of videos on line and then just getting over my own resistance, I just did it, I blended a bunch of scotches I had and the result was actually really pleasant. Then I mixed again and I blended scotches with Ryes and bourbons and again the result was quite excellent. Would it win an award? Probably not, but I took some satisfaction in the fact that I had made that. I had thought about what to mix and my result was pretty good. I mixed again and I added too much of a really peaty scotch and I thought I should lower that next time. Yeah, I screwed up but I learned from the experience.

The first several times I mixed six or seven whiskys together, but tonight I just mixed 2. I got a budget 12 year old blended scotch and added a bit of my favourite, but less expensive single malts. The result was a better version of the blended scotch, which when I calculated the cost made it a much better tasting deal for my money. I'd almost be a fool not to do this in the future.

The recipe for this new invention of mine is 2 shots of Dewars 12 year old ($34.99 for a 750ml bottle) and 1/4 shot of Deanston virgin oak ($49.98 a 750 ml bottle). The beautiful and wonderful taste of Deanston comes out and dominates over the Dewars. True, it would be better to drink pure Deanston, but the cost of this mixture makes the mix pretty good for your wallet.

You can also mix some scotches and still come out with single malt. Mix some Glenfiddich 12 year old, which is kind of boring stuff, with Glenfiddich 15 year old, which is amazing, and you'll get single malt Glenfiddich that's pretty intriguing.

Lately I've been drinking some Black Grouse with a couple of drops of Ledaig 10 Year Old Whisky, a few drops of Lagavulin 16 Years Old, a few drops of Port Charlotte... and maybe one drop of Bowmore 12 Year Old. It's really quite good in my opinion. Nice and peaty and complex and easy on the wallet.

Give this mixing and blending a try. I'd like to hear your thoughts and suggestions.