Whisky review no. 18 - Sainsbury's Blended Scotch

Looks like I didn't do the regular indtoductory paragraph. That's a bit of a shame. Thanks goodness for the edit function. I can't have my reviews failing to conform to the regular format or people will get confused. Anyway, here it is...


Bit of an intro

I was given this for christmas by my Grandma a couple of years ago and didn't open it for some time. It's from the British supermarket chain Sainsbury's. It's blended scotch whisky, meaning it contains malt and grain whiskies and is distilled and matured for at least three years in Scotland. It's bottled at 40% ABV like most blended whiskies, doesn't say it's un-chillfiltered (which means it's almost definitely chillfiltered) and doesn't say no colouring has been added (which means E150a colouring has almost definitely been added). The label doesn't give a lot of information about the whisky, although it does say that the component whiskies come from the Highlands, Lowlands and Speyside. I'm not expecting any smoke or other phenolic notes, since the peated, phenolic whiskies are mostly not from the Highlands, Lowlands or Speyside. I don't know how much it cost as it was a gift, but the Sainsbury's website has this 350ml bottled listed at £6.75, which is 74 NOKs, $8.71, €7.99, or 69,969.70 Laotian Kips. That's a lot of Kips.

Packaging

Looks a lot like a small bottle of blended whisky. The bottle's the flat kind, and I've sometimes wondered why that particular design came about? My two theories are that it was designed for people who don't drink much and that it was designed for people who drink far too much. People who don't drink much wouldn't buy a full 70cl bottle. The flat design of the half size bottle is so it can sit at the back of your cupboard for a year or two without taking up too much space. On the other hand, people who drink far too much are more likely to want a bottle they can easily stow in a coat pocket, or stash under a piece of office furniture for a life ruining drink in their coffee break when no one's looking. The flat design would fit that nicely too. I think the most likely is actually that the flat designed bottles were the cheapest available to the bottler. Have a look anyway.

Perfect size for those who occasionally indulge

The label looks ok. Not too fancy and not too cheap looking. It has a stag head on it so we can tell it's a product of Scotland. I like that the Sainsbury's logo is small, I think that's a sensible move and shows a supermarket chain with some level of self awareness and awareness of the product. Anyone with much knowledge of whisky knows that a supermarket logo isn't something discerning whisky drinkers will be looking for. Have a closer look.

That stag looks intelligent and a bit annoyed

I found looking more closely at the stag to be worrying. He looks far too intelligent and far too angry for me to feel safe. I'm glad he's just a picture on a bottle of whisky and not a real stag. If he was real he'd probably end up leading a revolution of deer. Moving on...

Smell in bottle

On opening

General whisky smell at first.

Acetone (I often smell that in blended whiskies).

Slightly nutty.

Grain whisky smell.

Alcohol (not a surprise).

Raisin, so I'm thinking there's at least a little sherry matured whisky in there.

Vanilla

Caramel.

Later

Very much apple juice.

Alcohol.

Sherry, or maybe more like tawny port.

Gloss paint.

Bit of vanilla.

Bit of brown sugar.

Not unlike cheap rum, bit of molasses in there.

Emulsion paint.

Appearance

About the standard colour of a blended whisky. The colour (not to mention the label) suggest caramel colouring has been used. It's too golden to be natural. That's ok though, I'm pretty sure I don't taste the colouring. Some people can, but I don't think I've noticed it, and certainly not as a negative.

E150a makes whisky look nice

Of course the appearance of the whisky tells us very little about what to expect flavour wise.

Neat

Nose

Apple juice.

Acetone (that's nail polish remover).

Toasted nuts, I'm thinking hazel nuts and almonds.

Vanilla, put me in mind of the vanilla cream in a bun so maybe that's confectioners custard.

Pear.

Grain whisky sweetness.

Hints of sweet things like caramel and brown sugar, but nothing very distict there.

Faint egg.

Treacle toffee.

Some kind of sweet flowery smell with the emphasis on the sweetness rather than the floweriness.

Something a bit painty, kind of like poster paint from school.

Arrival

Surprisingly smooth.

Apple juice.

Dark chocolate.

Sweet brown sugar.

Development

Nutty, like nut shells.

Almost coffee, a bit like coffee creme quality street chocolates..

Hint of orangey citrus.

Milk chocolate.

Dark chocolate later.

Finish

Chocolate.

Toasted nuts.

Vanilla.

Dark chocolate orange aftertaste.

Water - 1tsp

Nose

Immediately rich fruitiness, reminiscent or port or sherry.

Sweet almost molasses but fruitier. Not unlike rum.

Muscovado sugar, adding to the rum-like nature.

Syrupy raisiny smell.

Faint hint of poster paint like at school.

Arrival

Rich and smooth.

Sweet, soft brown sugar.

chocolate.

dried fruity sherry flavour.

Development

Sherry

Plenty sweet.

Bit of grainy whisky.

Raisiny sweetness.

A bit of something spicey, like alspice.

Touch of turmeric.

Finish

Bit nutty.

Bit chocolatey.

Bit of a bitter herbal thing.

Little bit of orange.

Not much to it, but then we shouldn't expect much.

A few extra notes

I'm seriously wondering how much Cragganmore is in this blend. There were a lot of chocolatey notes.

Conclusion

Surprisingly pleasant. Much richer and smoother than I would have expected such a cheap dram to be. Lots of sweetness and rich fruitiness, with a bit of chocolate and a touch of nuts and spice. Not a lot else, but there's nothing wrong with what's there and nothing that's there that tastes wrong. I can't help thinking this would work well with a cigar or in coffee. (I tried it with a cigar after I wrote that and I was right. I ran out before I could spike my coffee with it though.) On the standard one to ten scale I'd have to say that if I lived near a Sainsbury's I'd pay them a visit. Would I buy it again? Well, I didn't buy this one, but if I had I wouldn't be disappointed. I'm actually thinking about picking up a bottle next Christmas if there's nothing better under the tree. Only if there's nothing better mind.

That's it for another review. I hope you're not upset about how much time you just wasted reading it. If you feel the time you took to read it was actually relatively well spent then please tell your friends, family members, colleagues, and the local press. I hope you're looking forward to next time. It might be another nice single malt or possibly a delicious German beer.