What is blended whiskey? A beginner's guide
This is the birthplace of the great brands that exist today.
1. Johnnie Walker - created by John Walker in the mid-1880s and originally sold in his grocery store in Kilmarnock.
2. Chivas Regal - the latest whiskey from Chivas Brothers, which takes its name from the Aberdeen shop where the company was born.
3. Teacher’s - a modern version of the whiskey created by William Teacher and sold by his wife's family grocery in Glasgow.
4. Ballantine’s - named after George Ballantine and his Edinburgh grocery store.
Are single malts better than blended whiskeys?
In a nutshell: no, they are different. While many blended whiskeys are cheaper than single malt, offering an affordable entry into the world of Scotch whiskey, that doesn't mean single malts are better drinks.
Blended whiskey has a wide range of flavors, as one would expect from something created by blending whiskeys from different distilleries, and can compete with single malts not only in complexity and flavor, but also in price.
In fact, there are also very expensive blended whiskeys.
Blended whiskey is the product most people start their whiskey journey with, and with around 90% of whiskey sales worldwide being blended, it is the type of whiskey that most people drink.
It's easy for single malt fans to consider them cheap and uninteresting, but dig a little deeper and you'll find a whole wealth of excellent whiskeys just waiting to be discovered.
