What is a Blended Scotch Whisky?
If all the whiskies in a blend are malts, the resulting whisky is called a ‘vatted malt’ rather than a ‘blend’. Some vatted brands are called “pure malt’, or simply ‘malt whisky’ as opposed to ‘single malt’ which is the product of one distillery. Blended whisky is a mix of malt and grain whiskies. This style of Scotch accounts for the majority of sales worldwide (in 1995, it was 96 percent; in 1980 it was 99 percent). A blend will typically consist of between 15 and 40 different malt whiskies and two to three grains. Despite the fact that grain whisky is relatively light in flavour, attempts to use just one grain grain in a blend have proven unsuccessful. The percent of malt in a blend can vary from 20 to 60 percent. The quantity of malt, as well as the age of the malt in a blend, will inevitably be reflected in the cost of the end product. Malt whiskies are all different, and each has its own unique flavour profile. The blender sets out to balance the characterists of one whisky with
