Cocktails with Blended Scotch whisky
Blended Scotch whisky is a Scotch whisky combining one or more single malt whiskies with one or more single grain whiskies.
ABV40%The legal minimum for Scotch whisky is 40%
Taste profile
Cereal grain leads, softened and lightened by the grain component, over an oak-derived backbone; malt-driven aroma runs high, with a smoky, peaty note in some blends and none in others.
How it's used
Reached for when a whisky base is wanted with a smoother, lighter body than a single malt, it serves as the dominant strength-and-flavour measure and is built or stirred; its grain-softened character suits mixing without dominating.
Substitutes for Blended Scotch whisky
Single malt Scotch whisky preserves the whisky identity, ~40% strength and oak/malt aroma the base role needs, but loses the grain component's lightening effect — it is fuller, more intense and less smooth. Where a specific peat or smoke is the point, only a whisky that actually carries it will do.
Often confused with
Single malt Scotch whisky
Single malt is made at a single distillery from only water and malted barley in pot stills; blended Scotch mixes single malt(s) with single grain whisky, which uses other cereals and is usually column-distilled.
