So we have tried a blended whisky and then a blended malt in the last two days. The last avenue to go down would be a single grain whisky. This is a similar idea to a single malt in that it is the produce of a single distillery. The obvious difference being rather than malted barley we are using a mash bill of grains. Generally pot stills are not used as well but the more industrial and cheaper column stills.

The Grain

I remember a couple of years back there was an effort to make the single grain sector sexy. There was a push around the summer time to say grain’s are cool, they are refreshing and they are interesting at a young age. I remember Douglas Laing in particular bottling a whole series. This wasn’t something I was ever sure about and can’t remember ever liking any of them. I can’t have been the only one as there isn’t quite the same number of single grains in the young teens now.

For this article though the whisky has been well aged almost as long as I have. The extra time is really needed with grain as the production process makes a more neutral and harsher spirit than single malts from pot stills. They need that extra time to mellow and take on some flavour from the wood.

This particular sample is the 4th batch of Strathclyde and it has been bottled at 45%ABV. In terms of cost and number of bottles though that information isn’t available because its all sold out. The first one in a few days to be sold out so lets hope its good whisky.

Tasting Notes

Colour – rich yellow

Nose – sweet for sure but quite chemically and petrol like. There is a stinging from the alcohol and generally the nose is very closed.

Palate – nice silky and mouthcoating texture with notes of brown sugar.

Finish – A short and chemically finish. slightly bitter and sour but still quite alcohol heavy.

Final Thoughts

Very hard to like this really as there just isn’t much to talk about. There is a lot of that harsh alcohol taste and  burn still even now. The wood used must have been very tired because there is little to show for all that time. We talk a lot about age not being important but amount of active maturation and this is a case and point. No point this was expensive because of the age and it simply isn’t worth the money, whatever that number was. It was too much.