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"Blended" means a whisky combines both malt and grain spirit. Glenfiddich make malt spirit, but not grain spirit [1], so there's no way a "blended Glenfiddich"

by twic 5y ago

"Blended" means a whisky combines both malt and grain spirit. Glenfiddich make malt spirit, but not grain spirit [1], so there's no way a "blended Glenfiddich" could exist. There could be blended whiskies containing Glenfiddich and grain spirit from another distillery, but those are just blended whiskies like any other; you couldn't consider them to be Glenfiddich. "Blended malt" means a whisky combines malt spirit from multiple distilleries, so "blended malt Glenfiddich" would be an oxymoron. A Solera system doesn't count as any kind of blending, as long as all the inputs are malt whisky from a single distillery. [1] these are the grain distilleries: https://www.whiskyinvestdirect.com/about-whisky/grain-whisky-distilleries-in-scotland https://www.whiskyinvestdirect.com/about-whisky/grain-whisky...

GavinMcG 5y ago
Blended doesn't mean malt + grain. Blended means producer + other producer. That's why, as you said, blended malt means malt spirits combined from multiple distilleries.
- randallsquared 5y ago
  This was my understanding as well, but I was confused about the statement that Glenfiddich produced blendeds, and wanted to draw @orf out about what they meant, but it turns out that they might have just been mistaken about a previous purchase.
- twic 5y ago
  That had been my belief up until i started to write that comment, at which point i went to look it up. Having done so, i am moderately confident that the definition of "blended whisky" in the context of Scotch is that it combines malt and grain whisky. Since there are (almost) no distilleries that produce both, this also implies combining different distilleries. But it's the malt plus grain aspect which is essential. Note that if you combine malt whisky from two producers, you get "blended malt whisky" not "blended whisky".
  - GavinMcG 5y ago
    Ok, I partially stand corrected and partially renew my objection. The word "blended" on its own does not mean malt + grain, and leading off an explanation of scotch categorization with that definition is confusing. "Blended" is part of the name of three different categories of non-single-distillery products, only one of which is "blended scotch whisky"; the word itself simply denotes non-single-distillery products. "Blended scotch whisky" is the term of art that denotes scotch whisky blended from single malt and single grain whiskys, according to the SWR. Particularly when one's audience isn't experienced in this area, it would be helpful to flag terms of art, and to clarify that you're talking about specific labeling standards. The commenter had said "blended export stuff" which made it clear (to me) that they weren't speaking that technically.

by twic 5y ago

GavinMcG 5y ago

Blended doesn't mean malt + grain. Blended means producer + other producer. That's why, as you said, blended malt means malt spirits combined from multiple distilleries.

randallsquared 5y ago
This was my understanding as well, but I was confused about the statement that Glenfiddich produced blendeds, and wanted to draw @orf out about what they meant, but it turns out that they might have just been mistaken about a previous purchase.
twic 5y ago
That had been my belief up until i started to write that comment, at which point i went to look it up. Having done so, i am moderately confident that the definition of "blended whisky" in the context of Scotch is that it combines malt and grain whisky. Since there are (almost) no distilleries that produce both, this also implies combining different distilleries. But it's the malt plus grain aspect which is essential. Note that if you combine malt whisky from two producers, you get "blended malt whisky" not "blended whisky".
- GavinMcG 5y ago
  Ok, I partially stand corrected and partially renew my objection. The word "blended" on its own does not mean malt + grain, and leading off an explanation of scotch categorization with that definition is confusing. "Blended" is part of the name of three different categories of non-single-distillery products, only one of which is "blended scotch whisky"; the word itself simply denotes non-single-distillery products. "Blended scotch whisky" is the term of art that denotes scotch whisky blended from single malt and single grain whiskys, according to the SWR. Particularly when one's audience isn't experienced in this area, it would be helpful to flag terms of art, and to clarify that you're talking about specific labeling standards. The commenter had said "blended export stuff" which made it clear (to me) that they weren't speaking that technically.