The Scotch Myth Everyone Needs To Stop Believing

There's a myth entrenched in whisky culture for the last 40 years or so that really needs to be put to bed: single malt Scotch whisky is better than blended. Yes, a great single malt can have a unique terroir and showcase the best of what an individual distillery can do. But a masterfully blended Scotch whisky can bring together the best of what several distilleries have to offer to create a unique symphony of flavors in a single bottle.

While both categories have to be made in Scotland, single malts are exclusively crafted using only malted barley and distilled in pot stills. Blended whisky can be made using a variety of single malts that are then often blended with grain whisky, which can be made using other grains such as corn, wheat, or rye, in column stills, which produces a lighter spirit. Blenders then take these various liquids and marry them together to let the flavors meld.

Larger blenders, such as Johnnie Walker and Dewar's, combine single malts and grain whisky to produce approachable, consistent, and balanced blends. Then there are others, such as Compass Box, that push the boundaries of what a blend can be.

Single malts didn't really come into their own until the 1980s and 1990s, but soon dominated the whisky world, even though blends have a much longer history and continue to be a much larger segment of the market. In some cases, blends are a better value for your money, offering as much flavor and complexity as a single malt at a lower price.

Compass Box is a multiple-award-winning whisky maker that's been around since 2000. It produces unique blends that are all non-chill filtered, naturally colored, and that can hang with single malts with ease. The company has also championed radical transparency, detailing exactly where it gets its various whiskies that are then masterfully blended and matured in small batches using unique caskings. A great place to start is with its signature Orchard House expression.

With brands such as Chivas Regal, Johnnie Walker, and Dewar's, go for expressions with older age statements to see just how incredible blends can be. For instance, Chivas Regal's award-winning 18-year-old, which comes in under $100, combines single malts from 20 distilleries and offers a cornucopia of flavors. Likewise, Dewar's 32-year-old was named "world's best whisky" by the International Whisky Competition. So, whether you're a diehard single malt drinker or just getting into blended Scotch whisky, you need to stop believing the myth that blends are inferior — it's just not true.