If you’ve been following the blog for sometime you know that I am quite fond of aged blended whisky, having tasted a few awesome expressions made up of old Grain whisky and some old Malt whisky (Black bull 40,Compass Box The Circus , The Golden Age Blend) , I can assure you some of them do not fall short of excellent aged single malts.
Launched in the latter half of 2016, The Half-Century Blend is The Blended Whisky Company’s homage to to the days of whisky production where “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” were the norm. As the name suggests, this expression was made with whiskies which were aged for over 50 years,. Only 768 bottles were produced in the first batch. The whisky was blended by The blended whisky Co. which is another label spawned off Master of malts / drinks by the dram. Priced at £599 this is not a cheap whisky, but its quite excellent as we’re about to see.
The Half-Century Blend , 45.5% abv, £599 (available from Master of Malt)
Nose : old wooden furniture, wood varnish, the old grain is shining through. Candied spoke and maple syrup, wood spices and cinnamon, candied grapefruit pith, leather. Beautiful stuff really.
Palate : tropical heaven! Oh man. Lots of pink grapefruit, guava, Kiwi all sprinkled upon layers of vanilla and banana ice cream, hot fudge, Macerated cherries, old wood. Brilliant. So damn good.
Finish : The tropical fruit linger with chocolate and wood and cigar leaf.
Conclusion: This is brilliant stuff, a tropical fruit bomb with the old wood, is pretty much just what I am looking for in this kind of aged whisky. It’s sublime. The grain and malt shine and complement each other, wow. I can only regret I can not afford it, at the current whisky climate. Oh well…