Archives for October 18, 2016

The Blended Whisky Company unveils The Half-Century Blend

The Blended Whisky Company has revealed their newest limited edition release, The Half-Century Blend, honouring the era before the ‘whisky-boom’ and the quest for increased yields at all costs.

Just 768 bottles of The Half-Century Blend were produced

Following on from their two multi-award-winning whiskies, The Lost Distilleries Blend (World’s Best Blended Whisky – World Whiskies Awards 2014) and The Golden Age Blend (Best Scotch Blend – World Whiskies Awards 2016), The Blended Whisky Company has unveiled their latest limited edition release – The Half-Century Blend.

Only whiskies aged for over 50 years were used to create this astonishing blend, standing testament to the extraordinary complexity of these whiskies – distilled over half a century ago. The ‘whisky-boom’ of the late 1960s to the 1980s saw the beginning of an inexorable march towards modernisation, and the quest for increased yields at all costs.

Before this shift, distilleries were home to less efficient barley-strains, sprawling on-site floor maltings, inefficient brewer’s yeast, lengthy fermentation times, mucky direct-fired stills, bulky and inefficient worm-tub condensers and less active refill casks. The result of all this inefficiency, waste and lost commercial-opportunity? Flavour, subtlety, poise, an incredible depth of fruit-character and a beguiling, ethereal quality sadly missing from many of today’s whiskies.

Proving that patience has its rewards, the slow-maturing whiskies contained in The Half-Century Blend were produced in an era where flavour – not forecasts – ruled the roost.

Just 768 bottles of The Half-Century Blend (RRP £599.95) were produced in this first batch, with an ABV of 45.5%.

The Blended Whisky Company range is available from fine retailers including Amathus, Amazon, Harvey Nichols, Hedonism, Master of Malt and Ocado.

I’ve been sent a sample of this very exciting dram and shall be sharing my thoughts soon!