Blend is not a dirty word.
A single malt from a single cask is the work of God. Some 200 years ago, a bunch of guys get together, build a distillery, malt some barley, add some water, then some yeast, distill the lot and voila! Whisky.
Then each distillery cautiously copies their same production process, constantly fearing that the results may change. But whatever goes into the barrel and whatever happens after that, is what it is. In fact, the way to guarantee consistency is through the blending of a distilleries own malts.
A Blend however is the work of man. When man takes the tools provided to him with and utilises them to the best of his ability and eventually develops something that is just outstanding. Maybe that explains why blends still account for 90% of whisky sales.
We now have The Scotch Malt Whisky Society and Peat Faerie (Pronounced Fairy). Its a blend!
It’s a Speyside and Islay mix, no grain and its brilliant! The guys over at the SMWS know what they are doing.
Their tasting panel were put through a blind tasting (sounds like torture!) of various mixes and what we have now, is the highest scoring of the lot.
Peat Faerie is the 3rd blended batch from SMWS and I am reckon we can expect more.
Only 2948 bottles made.
Minimum age of contents is 10 years old.
Colour is a deep gold. Â
It falls into the Societies ‘Lightly Peated’ category and they of course are right.
Initially on the nose, the peat is nowhere to be found. But go back to it a couple times and there it is!
On the palate its initially soft and smooth (almost creamy), then the finish is all alcohol. And a hefty 50% at that. But add some water and you will be off with the fairies! The peat is there, but soft. Not too overwhelming.
The finish after adding some water is long and leisurely.
This is a fantastic Dram and I cannot imagine this bottle will last too long in my house. And at £50 it may seem expensive (for a blend), but keep in mind a lot of work has probably gone into this and no grain to keep the cost down.
The bad news is, I believe the SMWS have already sold out. But thanks to those that appreciate their whisky enough to buy a couple of bottles, but not enough to ever drink it, you will no doubt find this Faerie flying onto the auction sites very soon.
Enjoy!