This blended malt, the product of William Grant & Sons is a mix of three single malts Kininvie, Glenfiddich, and Balvenie. Many developed a repetitive strain injury in one shoulder, and the condition was dubbed "Monkey Shoulder". It enjoys an almost cult-like following in at least one online Whisk(e)y community.įor those who don’t know, the name of this whisky is a nod to the men who used to turn the malted barley by hand. Monkey Shoulder seems to be one of those exceptions. However, excepting a select few, blended malts don’t seem to be all that popular. Blended malt, a mix of different single malt scotches, supposedly allows for greater flexibility and a more complex flavour profile. This is an abbreviated version of an upcoming blog postīlended malt scotch whisky is an interesting case study. This is as middle-of-the-road as late 70s Carly Simon on the FM dial during the morning drive. Is there anything right with it? Well, it's not terrible. Is there anything wrong with it? Not really. If you think of all the whiskies you've tried in your entire life and pulled a few consistent notes from all of them to create the most generically pleasing whisky you could imagine, you'll probably come up with something like this. The medium-length finish is peppery, sweet and a little rough. It's starting to look a lot like Christmas. Soft oak - very soft - and yet even softer with water. The orange takes a bit of a back seat, and some cloves are added to the mix. Pleasant, very desserty.Ĭreamy mouthfeel on the palate with more honey, vanilla and butterscotch. Light milk chocolate, lots of honey (think orange blossom), vanilla custard, butterscotch and overripe apple. On the nose it is very citrusy - not lemon or lime but orange, particularly sharp peel. But then again, it's also weird to be a connoisseur analyzing a spirit that was not intended to be appreciated whatsoever, but was made expressly for mixing. The name refers to a condition the maltmen would get from turning the barley back in the day - cute name but referencing a workplace injury that the distillery would be responsible for (and likely didn't cover treatment or compensation of any kind back in olden tymes) is kinda weird. The batch number given is 27, though that just refers to the 27 casks that make up each batch. Unsurprisingly, it is comprised of malts from Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie. Monkey Shoulder is a blended malt from William Grant & Sons, launched in 2005 with the clear and stated intention of providing bartenders with an approachable but high-quality whisky to use in cocktails. Thought I'd settle in easy with something that is, well, really easy. My KWM Whisky Advent Calendar just arrived, and in a couple of weeks I'm judging at the World Whiskies Awards for the second year, so I figured I should get back into practice. Palate: soft mouth arrival and then a steady increase in malt intensity shards of Demerara sweetness help counter the vanilla…some grain early on…enormous length… A joy.It's been over a month since I last wrote a review, so I'm glad to be back at it. Smooth and rich, 100% malt Scotch whisky, distilled, matured and bottled in Dufftown, Scotland.īusy, complex and wonderfully weighted: the theme is orangey citrus softened by vanilla. When it’s ready and taste tested by Brian, this triple malt whisky gets bottled and receives its triple monkey badge. The three Speyside malts are then blended together in a small marrying tun where they hang out making eyes at each other for anything from three to six months. He always chooses the right combination of casks for every batch he makes, ensuring each one is deliciously smooth and rich as the last. And then, there’s Brian Kinsman our new who’s our Master now. Our own coopers repair these ex-bourbon casks so that they impart a smooth and mellow vanilla flavour into the resting malt whisky. Well, for starters, there’s not a single drop of grain whisky in our Monkey Shoulder, and the chosen malts mature in first fill ex-bourbon casks. Today, the name Monkey Shoulder lives on as an affectionate tribute, to honour the hard graft of all the maltmen past and present. Whilst our maltmen are among the few who still turn the barley manually, working conditions have changed which means this injury has been consigned to the past. It had a tendency to cause their arm to hang down a bit like a monkey’s, so they nicknamed it ‘monkey shoulder’. It’s a reference to a condition that maltmen sometimes picked up while working long shifts, turning the barley by hand. The term ‘monkey shoulder’ harks back to our whisky making heritage.
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