{"id":8133,"date":"2017-07-04T08:19:45","date_gmt":"2017-07-04T07:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewhiskylady.net\/?p=8133"},"modified":"2017-07-04T08:19:45","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T07:19:45","slug":"single-malts-actually-blends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewhiskylady.net\/single-malts-actually-blends\/","title":{"rendered":"So Single Malts are actually Blends?"},"content":{"rendered":"
#BackToWhiskyBasics lesson N\u00b07<\/em> : If you’ve already attended a whisky tasting or malted event of any kind, there are good chances you’ve come accross this snob prick claiming to the world that “single malts are better than blends<\/em>“? Yes, when starting your whisky discovery journey, you may have looked up at that guy thinking he was in the know… Guess what? My cat may be more of a whisky connoisseur than him <\/strong>(I mean no, seriously…. haven’t you seen her helping me unbox my malted deliveries on Instastories? #ImplicitMessageToConvinceYouToJoinMeOnInstagram)<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Let’s stop disgressing and get into the subject: as you probably know, there are different sorts of whisky: single malt, blended whisky, single grain, blended malt… Which may seem a bit confusing if I tell you that most single malts are actually blends<\/strong> right? Because they don’t fall in the “blended whisky” (a mixture of grain and malt whiskies)<\/em> category doesn’t indeed mean that your favourite single malts aren’t made up of several casks combined together to achieve a desired flavour profile.<\/p>\n “Single Malt” only means that you’re malt whisky comes from a single distillery,<\/strong> only if it bares the mention “single barrel<\/em>” or “single cask<\/em>” on the label, it is the product of a one and only cask from this one distillery. Other than that, a single malt can be a blend of 2 to 2558874 casks from the same distillery.<\/strong><\/p>\n Why are distilleries blending different casks?<\/strong> For different reasons really: First, as we discussed regarding NAS whisky, blends are part of a flavour-led approach<\/strong> – if adding a wee bit of a 5-year-old whisky to a more rounded 20-year-old in order to bring a lively twist to the end product enhances it, why do without? Master Blenders (the magicians behind your favourite nectars)<\/em> can also decide to marry different kinds of casks: 1st-fill sherry, bourbon, port, 2nd-fill or even third and fourth-fill, different charring levels and\/or size of casks, hence playing with different aromas.<\/p>\n But blends are also popular for consistency purposes, volume and stock management<\/strong> – it’s the only way you can be sure your Balvenie 12 or Lagavulin 16 tastes the same wether you buy it in France, Hong Kong or Australia.<\/p>\n While some of you may prefer the singularity of a single cask, most consumers would appreciate knowing that if they like a product, they can buy it again 6 months later and it will be just as good! This is something that cannot be achieved while bottling a single cask whisky, as each cask, even baring the same age and stored next to each other in the same warehouse, may have a completely different profile<\/strong>… That’s the whisky magic!<\/p>\n And that’s also why master blenders have to adapt their recipe to the casks<\/strong>, it’s not always gonna be the same amount of cask N\u00b01 + cask N\u00b025578 and cask N\u00b0888. By their very nature, each individual cask is unique<\/strong>, making their task of creating a consistent product utterly difficult!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n