Pure Scot Blend

I’d like to thank Bladnoch for giving the Toronto Whisky Society three bottles of Pure Scot Blend to review. While we was given this bottle for free, please note that these reviews are my own, we keep 100% editorial power over them.

Bladnoch distillery is one of the few Lowland distilleries left. And recently went through a change. David Prior, an Aussie with a love of Scotch (and waves, stretches, early mornings, and clouds), bought the 200 year old distillery in 2015.

Pure Scot is the first change seen with the whisky, made not solely with Bladnoch as the single malt, also containing Speyside, Highland, and Islay malts, as well as grain whiskies. This is made as the Perfect Cocktail Companion.

However there’s some people out there (myself included) who wonder if that’s downplaying the whisky. Or rather, if I call something a whisky made for cocktails or mixing, is it bad whisky that needs it? And if we follow a chef’s advice, you don’t use anything in cooking that you wouldn’t drink.

So I’m not going to lie: Going into this, I was a bit concerned about the dram. However I think if trying more and more Bourbon has taught me that blends are a bad word. I have worse ones to say.

So let’s keep an open mind, and try this one out.

Price: Not yet available, however coming soon to the LCBO

Region: Blend

Abv: 40%

Colour: 2.5Y 8/6

Nose: Yeast, brine, wood, vegetal, light honey

Initial nose is quite yeasty. However that subsides quite quickly. It’s light, there’s quite a bit of honey and vegetal notes.

Some brine to it. Takes some time to really bring it all out.

Taste: Caramel, earth, floral, parsnip

I’m actually quite surprised at the nice strength of the caramel. It’s a lot stronger than the nose. Lots of earth going on here, and a lot of floral notes.

It’s simple, but no rough notes.

Finish: Smoke, anise, earth, floral, lime

Even more earth now. The Islay shows up and kicks down the door, as it’s want to do. It’s not going to compete with peated scotches for power. Granted it’s not going to compete with black holes for power. However it’s a nice finish.

Conclusion: Earth forward dram. I went into this concerned yet open minded. I looked for rough notes or for something that may denote “rough grain whisky”. Instead I ended up with a lighter blended whisky that is nice. Almost as nice as Johnnie Walker Black, and not as bad as the Johnnie Walker Red I expected.

Is this amazing? Not really, however it’s appreciated. I really do wish more blends tasted like this. I also hope they bring out a blended malt. It’s a daily drinker that also works well as a cocktail. Colour me surprised.

73/100

Scotch review #714, Blend review #77, Whisky Network reviews #1180