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GO ON, ADMIT IT, when you read those three words your reaction wasn’t one of unbridled excitement or of uncontainable joy. You didn’t think: “Oh golly gosh, how I’ve waited for a proper in-depth feature on blended scotch. My spirit is overflowing, lead me to the opening paragraph, boss, and hit me with your best shot.” You didn’t even think “oh great”. More likely it was an underwhelming, unaccompanied “oh”.

I write ‘blend’ and you read ‘bland’, right?

In fact, I suspect I’m barely hanging on to your attention even now, despite a cunningly constructed lexicological distraction. So let me level with you: I know blended whiskies aren’t normally anything to get excited about, but trust me for a bit. Give me a couple of hundred words to show you that not only is something stirring in blendsville, but the category is starting to play a leading role in the field of spirits. Or at least a part of it is.

The worldwide market for blended scotch whisky remains huge. It accounts for more than nine out of 10 glasses of scotch whisky sold worldwide, and last year was worth £2.77bn, 72% of the global value of scotch whisky exports, according to figures from the Scotch Whisky Association.

But blends are to the spirits world what burgers are to cuisine – ubiquitous but in the main homogeneous, uninspiring and not very sexy.

While single malt whiskies are a dynamic firework display of flavours, revelling in their evolution and nuanced differences from batch to batch and year to year, blended whiskies are reliable models of consistency. They are like your football club’s solid central defender – he does the same, solid job week in, week out, but nobody puts his name on the back of their replica shirts.

But blends are important. Very important. And the signs are that they are becoming more so by the week, as Diageo’s head of whisky outreach, Dr Nicholas Morgan points out.

“You ignore blended scotch whisky at your peril,” he says. “Whisky enthusiasts like to go on about single malt whiskies but they forget most of those single malts wouldn’t be available if it wasn’t for the market for blended whisky because single malt is made primarily to go into blends.

“They are whisky’s foot soldiers. They open the door for whisky in new markets and are the stepping stones for people to cross over to whisky.”

REVERSED ROLES

Morgan’s comments hold the key as to why blends are increasingly moving into the spotlight, and they contain a delightful irony, for while single malts have traditionally ridden on the coat tails of the blended whisky market, at the moment the roles are being reversed. Blended whiskies are being given a new lease of life by whisky producers because of the runaway success of single malt whisky, and in the more traditional ‘mature’ markets they are being favourably reassessed by whisky drinkers. There are two key reasons for these, both linked to a shortage of single malt whisky.

The first is the fact that a single malt whisky – a whisky from one distillery – is a finite commodity, and when the annual output has gone, it’s gone. If you only produce 5m litres a year, that’s all you can sell of that particular malt. But blends can be expanded by judicially replacing malts in short supply with ones that contribute a similar taste profile. Although the producers don’t like to talk about it, then, blended whiskies are potentially just as dynamic and evolving as single malt whiskies are.

And the result of this is that having introduced their blended whisky in new territories, it is in the interest of the producers to encourage consumers not to turn to a single malt, as they have in the past, but to go to a better or older, more premium version of the original blend.

“Consumers of blends tend to shop from an approved repertoire so will often consider trading up through the range to try new and different variants,” says Oliver Dickson, global associate brand director for William Grant & Sons. “In emerging markets the size of the single malt category is considerably smaller than in developed markets. Consumers consider trading up to a leading blend such as Grant’s from a local dark spirit as a considerable step up in quality and price, without the need to purchase from outside the current blended segment.”

The second factor is also related to single malt whisky shortages and the development of non-age statement single malt whiskies. Invariably these whiskies are made with malt aged for considerably fewer than the 10 or 12 years that many consumers have come to expect as a mark of a quality scotch whisky.

And although it’s not always the case, many are priced close to, or higher than, the original 12-year-old whisky, and at least some of the offerings are of an inferior quality to the whiskies they have replaced. That in turn has led to some consumers to reassess quality name blended whiskies.

“Producers have a duty to ensure that the quality of their whisky meets the very high standards people have come to expect of scotch whisky,” says Diageo’s Morgan.

“But in some ways non-age statement whiskies have brought the skill of the whisky maker into focus. Most people don’t care whether a whisky is a blended malt, or a blend, or a single malt, providing it delivers in taste and quality. People are understanding that a non-age statement whisky is put together using whisky from casks of different types and sizes, and with whisky of different styles and ages, just like a blended whisky is. And

perhaps there’s a growing appreciation of the skill that goes into the blender’s art.”

There’s another irony, here, too. For while single malts are ditching the age from their labels, increasingly blended whiskies are going the other way, and creating an ever-growing premium blended whisky category. It’s not in itself new – brands such as Johnnie Walker Gold and Blue, Ballantine’s 17 Year Old, Chivas Regal 18 Year Old and Grant’s 25 year old have been big sellers for years – but there is a fresh momentum to the category.

Take a look at recent releases from Pernod Ricard, for instance: a new take on Ballantine’s 21 Year Old called Signature Oak, European Oak – which showcases the characteristics and flavours that European oak contributes to the blend; Chivas Regal 18 Ultimate Cask Collection – a limited-edition whisky that explores the influence of first fill American oak casks; and Royal Salute The Age Collection – a collection of 10 distinctive blends, with the youngest containing whiskies 21 years or older and the oldest containing whiskies at least 30 years old.

POWER BLENDS

According to Suzy Smith, marketing director, regional power brands at Edrington, the opportunity presented by new markets and premiumisa-tion have contributed to the launch of the company’s new Famous Grouse blends.

“There are a number of exciting emerging markets for blended scotch whisky,” she says. “We see a growing appetite for our brands in parts of Africa. In Europe more established markets including Scandinavia and western Europe are being joined by emerging markets such as Russia, Hungary and Bulgaria. There is also a growing marketing for blended scotch whisky in the US and Canada.

“But also consumers’ interest in premium spirits was an important factor in the development of The Famous Grouse portfolio and the launch last year of a new premium expression – The Famous Grouse Mellow Gold, and the rebranding of The Black Grouse to become The Famous Grouse Smoky Black.”

The past couple of years haven’t been the easiest for scotch whisky sales, and particularly for blends, as several export markets have had to contend with difficult economic conditions. But the move to premium blended whisky has helped to ride out the storm, and there is considerable optimism about the future.

“Global volume for blended whisky is growing at 0.9% year on year, with value up 1.1% driven by the continued growth of premium blends – that is blends aged 12 years and above,” says William Grant’s Oliver Dickson.

“In mature markets, we continue to see promotional activities within the standard blends segment but, as with trends across the wider spirits category, the growth of premium blends is helping to offset volume decline through value growth.”

EMERGING MARKETS

Dickson points to India, where a growing middle class is moving to scotch whisky and agrees with Edrington’s Suzy Smith about the growing importance of eastern Europe.

The Scotch Whisky Association points to growth in a number of

emerging markets, with Mexico up 17% to £115m, Turkey up 24% to almost £53m, and China returning to the top 20 markets with an increase of 5% to £41m.

But while in normal times the future would seem to be becoming increasingly bright, there are a couple of big black clouds on the horizon – the UK’s exit from the European Union and the potential for a fresh referendum on Scotland’s place in the UK.

“In the context of the referendum we pointed to the fact that around 40% of the volume of scotch shipped globally was exported to the European Union last year, underlining the importance of the single market,” says the Association. “The SWA has argued that European Union membership has been vital to growing scotch whisky exports, with the EU playing a particularly important role in knocking down trade barriers as it negotiates free trade agreements with other countries.”

That leaves everything very much up in the air. For now, though, blended whiskies will continue to play a key role in the vanguard of scotch whisky.

And according to Oliver Dickson we should expect more premium blends and an increasingly proactive approach to innovation.

“As with other global spirits categories there is increasing consumer appeal for premium and super-premium blends,” he says. “However, this is not exclusively linked to price, with many consumers looking for unique experiences be through the way the whisky is served, specific craft styles, or the way it is made.

“As consumers begin to explore the whisky category it is these types of variants that offer something unique and different without the need to consider a single malt.”