The San Francisco World Spirits Competition recently hailedthe Isle of Skye 25 as the best blended Scotch in the world and who are we toargue, we have known it all along.
A blended Scotch at this age is not unique but it's veryrare. All the various whiskies in this delicious 25-Year-Old blend were beingput into the cask at the very end of the last Millenium and/or at the beginningof this one. Two and a half decades in oak has seen all the varying maturationsgiven plenty of time to work their magic. If time is often seen as the fourthingredient in Scotch, then this a recipe made in heaven.
The Isle of Skye whiskies, known for their high malt contentrange from 8 years old to 30 years old and are all created by the award-winningIan Macleod blending department, headed up by talented John Glass, our MaltMaster. The team has a whole portfolio of malt whiskies and multiple grainwhiskies to choose from when creating our smooth and multi-layered blends.
Each expression has its own recipe, in the case of the twenty-fivethe malt component is primarily Highland with of course some influence from islands,and the grain component is primarily from the lowlands, including closeddistilleries.
As the aging happens, we see a change in the spirit. Oxidation,often overlooked, is beginning to have a say on the whisky at this age. Withthe increased head space in the casks oxygen begins to change the compositionof the whisky in subtle ways, and we see some delicate tropical and floralnotes emerging in the twenty-five which aren't there in the younger whiskies.
This is very special and it’s what I think blew the SFWSCjudges away. With some single malts at this age, it can be all about the woodbut not here. We have two styles of whisky ageing for 25 years, malt and grainwhich are then married together, and each have a different story to tell.
The grain whiskies which start off with a very light spiritstyle, transform and gain more character and become a very significant part ofthe flavour in our older Isle of Skye's, especially here.
Malt whisky on the other hand almost takes the oppositejourney, being quite bold at a younger age softening as it gets older.
It is this interplay of grain and malt, diverse spirit styles,and cask character which in the hands the IMD blending team elevates this blendinto being more than the sum of its parts.
The Scotch is bold and rich, with a hint of smoke butdelicate and tropical. It is old grain and old malt beautifully balanced. There'srich oak, hints of vanilla and ginger, gently drying as the age reveals thosedelicate floral notes and more nuanced layers.
For many years, the conventional wisdom in some whiskycircles was that it was single malt that stood at the pinnacle of the Scotchtasting hierarchy.
With the Isle of Skye 25 Years Old, we are turning that onits head. Whisky is about flavour regardless of what the mash bill is.
What we love to hear is that they never knew a blendedScotch could be this complex.
We are not a ‘single’ malt, we are much more than that!
We are the world’s best blended Scotch.
