Cocktails with Blended Scotch whisky
Blended Scotch is Scotch whisky made and matured in Scotland for at least three years. It blends light grain whisky for the base with single malts for character, and is the everyday style behind most Scotch sold.
ABV40%That is the legal minimum for Scotch, and most blends are bottled right there. Export versions are often 43%.
How it's used
Soft and affordable, blended Scotch is the usual Scotch for mixing and does not pull a drink its way. It is the base of a Rob Roy (a Manhattan on Scotch), a Rusty Nail and a Bobby Burns, and of the Scotch highball. A blend brings little smoke. Where a drink wants smoke, as a Penicillin does, it comes from a peated Scotch added alongside.
Substitutes for Blended Scotch whisky
Comes closest, in the same amount: it is just as light.
Unpeated single malt
Gives a fuller drink.
Peated malt
Adds smoke that can take over.
Also works, sweeter and softer.
