The Story
As tales of whisky go, The Tweeddale Blend is definitely up there in my top five. When most people decide to look at their family history the pursuit will generally end in the construction of a lovely family tree some old photos and maybe even a new relative or two, Not so usual is the re-creation of a blended whisky that hasn’t been made for over 70 years!
An example of true gumption (I think) in the pursuit of bringing satisfaction to one’s family but also heritage and not to forget us lot the great whisky drinking public of Britain. A whisky steeped in provenance and heritage something most companies would die for (in fact maybe even kill for). The story starts with the current owner of Tweeddale Blend, Alasdair Day, inheriting his great grandfather’s cellar book. As well as detailing the accounts of J & A Davidson from 1881 (where his Great-Grandfather worked), it happened to contain the recipe for a blended whisky which was made from 1820 up until 1940. To come across this information amongst all those old figures must have been an amazing feeling. I’d struggle to relate but imagine it must have felt something like finding a treasure map. Here’s the link for those who are intrigued and want to know more about the history of the Tweeddale Blend - http://tweeddalewhisky.com/story/
Right onto the whisky, but first…A swift rant about attitude toward blends.
Blends are often given bad press on the back of mass-volume and own-label products where seemingly no amount of thought and care has been imbued into the final whisky aside from what profit can be generated.
However on the most part this is not the case (thankfully) and don’t forget blends are the backbone of an industry that provides us with so many amazing whiskies to enjoy, and without them we simply wouldn’t have malt whisky today as we know it. Making up a giant circa-90% of all whisky sold in the world, they deserve some respect, and when done well they allow a marriage of flavour that can be quite unique and truly amazing to drink.
(Editor – Much more could, and should, be written on blends, and it will be, but for now, enough Joe!)
Yes indeed blending is an art form in its own right and I take my hat off to all (most) blenders out there past and present. Right, blending rant over (for now).
The Whisky
This is the second release of Tweeddale. It’s a 12 year old which was released in June last year and follows the 10 year old first release bottling from 2010. Now, in keeping with the original recipe of Tweeddale, this is a 50-50 split of grain and malt. 9 whiskies in total are used from 9 individual casks, 8 malts covering each whisky-making region of Scotland and 1 grain whisky. The grain whisky originating from a single grain distillery in the Lowlands – it’s 15 years old and from a sherry butt – quite unusual. The malts, ranging from 12 years, all the way to 21 years of age, are from various cask-types including first-fill bourbon.
I’ll quickly point out now to anyone who doesn’t know;
The age statement on any bottle of whisky represents the youngest whisky in the bottle and this is true of all whisky bound by SWA (Scotch Whisky Association) law.
Where was I? Right, Sherry-casked grain whisky. This is more unusual these days as grain distilleries (as well as malt distilleries) will mostly use re-fill ex-Bourbon hogsheads made of American oak. Sherry-cask fills however would have been more common pre-war as sherry casks were in greater abundance than today for various reasons. Perhaps this is a nod back to the original blend…
Being a small batch process with only 9 casks being used, this whisky will vary slightly from batch to batch, in-keeping with the original Tweeddale blend. Another reason why this blend is intriguing and different to larger scale commercial operations…
It’s also bottled at a respectable 46% and un-chillfiltered – hurrah!
The Tasting
The nose reminds me of trifle with honey and toffee sauce drizzled over the top, served in a coal scuttle with just the slightest hint of some peat helping to balance the sweet dessert tones and suggesting a well rounded flavour.
The palate gives me a big lovely wedge of honey dew melon with a slight lemon sherbet quality in flavour and feel. It’s quite tingly, but then mellows out, becomes soft and creamy and descends into an oaky, malty, biscuit free-for-all with a mellowed-out old peaty referee keeping it all in check.
The Finish. Really clean, incredibly well rounded with a lovely citrusy biscuit flavour and the slightest trail of coal smoke.
The Conclusion
Overall I think this is a real winner. A very good, well rounded, well-balanced blend that at around £30 for 70cl is a good buy. You can really feel good grain whisky raising its head amongst those more hefty malts and that for me is key, and is where a lot of blends can struggle to deliver.
An old lesson in great whisky-making, blending and overflowing in provenance which should have those die-hard, ‘never drink a blend’ types looking for another glass full. A cracking dram!
Now any of you at the Newcastle fest that’s coming up will be able to meet Alasdair. He’ll be there along with his whisky and obviously will be able to tell his whiskies story far better, and do it more justice than I ever could.
Cheers and thanks for reading,
Joe
Note from the Ed(itor);
I sit here reading and editing this report as I enjoy my first sample of this little beauty. It is quite the dark horse. Extremely dark, spicy and intriguing. More than a little peat and very morish. For those of you who like the BNJ (Bailie Nicol Jarvie), this is almost a Director’s Cut of that excellent whisky… Might have to have a little more… Night, night.
