4 Things To Love About Blended Whiskey

4 Things To Love About Blended Whiskey

Blended Whiskey is one of the most popular types of whiskey on the market. Why then, does it often get a bad rap among whiskey aficionados? Blended whiskey, quite simply, is a liquid that is the product of blending or mixing different types of whiskeys together to create a finalized product.
 

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Here is one thing to love about blends! Historically, blended whiskey was a fantastic product. Over the years, it earned a bit of a bad reputation through problems with quality. Since then (and especially with the resurgence of Irish Whiskey’s popularity) it had begun to overcome it’s negative or cheap connotation in practice. This reputation, though, may not be deserved. 

In the late 1800s in Scotland, blended whiskey began to take on softer, more palatable notes as an alternative to the heavier peated flavor of whiskey being produced at the time. These old-style blends combined malt and smoother grain whiskey (made from any grain other than malted barley). This smoothness of taste was a massive hit in multiple markets, simply for it’s more approachable taste.

Sadly, in more recent years, huge quantities of high quality single malt whiskey began to move into the markets dominated by blended whiskey. At the same time, blended whiskey (generally speaking) began to rely more on lower quality grain whiskeys to complete it’s blend, which resulted in lower quality of the overall liquid. Due to the competitive nature of the Spirits market, consumers began to gravitate towards Single Malt whiskey, and turn their noses up at the humble Blends, which had once been the backbone of whiskey consumption.

This brings us to another thing to love about whiskey blends. The blend is only as good as the whiskey that has been added to it. Midleton Very Rare 2022 is an exceptional example of this thought process. With that in mind, we must also consider that larger whiskey distilleries that have a distinct flavor profile usually can only achieve this signature flavor by blending their whiskey or mixing together multiple barrels of whiskey. The famous Jameson Irish Whiskey is a prime example of this. What is not to love about this most internationally recognized Irish Whiskey (which also just happens to be a blend)?