If you’re an average spirits consumer browsing the whiskey aisle of a package store, you’re eventually going to face the following question: What are all these “blended” whiskeys on the bottom shelf, exactly? What does the “blended” label mean? Do their cheap price tags automatically imply a low level of quality, or are some of them actually fit to drink?and see for yourself.
Classic American blended whiskeys such as Seagram’s 7, then, typically contain a bit more than 20% straight bourbon—that’s bourbon that has been aged for at least two years in newly charred oak, meeting all the other qualifications to be “bourbon”—and are filled out by those inexpensive grain neutral spirits.
Recent years have also seen the growth of more premiumized blended whiskey brands that contain no grain neutral spirits. Hotaling & Co.’s J.H. Cutter Whisky would be one example, as it is a blend of straight bourbon, straight rye, and malted rye whiskey. Jim Beam’s new Little Book is another, as each batch is a blend of very different, distinct whiskeys.
In recent years, the Canadian whiskey industry has moved toward more non-blended, single-grain releases, such as 100% rye whiskeys that are distilled only a single time, but blended whiskeys still make up all the most prominent flagship brands.As in Canada, the leading commercial flagships in both Ireland and Scotland are blended whiskeys, but once again the rules of exactly what denotes a “blended whiskey” are a bit different than they are in the U.S. or our northern neighbor.
Of course, there is also a robust market for single malt whiskey and single pot still whiskey in Ireland as well, and these whiskeys typically are viewed as premium products that command higher price points than their blended brethren. With that said, extra-aged or special edition bottlings of blended Irish whiskeys can also carry higher price tags.
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