How I Made My Own Islay Malt Blend (A Virtual Tour of Islay)

This will be part 1 of a 2-part blog series about how I made up my own Islay Malt Blend. A Malt Blend is a whisky made up of 100% malted barley distilled whisky, but whereas a Single Malt comes from a single distillery, a Malt Blend is a marriage or blend of malts from a number of distilleries.

Monkey Shoulder by family run William Grant, is a classic example. This Malt Blend is a marriage of three different Speyside distilleries: Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie. Obviously, all these distilleries are owned by William Grant, with Kininvie being a kind of a pseudo distillery as it is in truth, simply a corrugated iron hut at the back of Balvenie distillery, where they have placed a set of stills to produce a different style of malt.

Being that we are all in “Beidud” (isolation or lock down) for an indefinite period of time, and beginning to feel, despite the Internet and phone, well, slightly ISOLATED, my mind turned to the times when we were on the beautiful and magical island of Islay. This tiny island currently has nine working distilleries but only eight of whom you can actually buy mature whisky from at the moment, due to the fact that Ardnahoe, (on the same road leading up to Bunnahabhain),  has just started distilling and it will be some time yet before we see bottles of this single malt on this shelf. (I am looking forward to it).

We visited the distillery back in November 2019 and I have to say how impressive it looks.

One of the “whisky” projects I have been meaning to do for a while now has been to create and begin experimenting with my own blend of single malts from the bottles I have available in my collection. So, between doing remote connection work from home and Pesach cleaning, I decided that now was the time to create my own malt blend. The question was, what kind of blend? Then the idea hit me that I would create an Islay blend of all (or at least almost all) the distilleries we had visited while on Islay.

I wanted to create a kind of a whirlwind tour of Islay, from one distillery to the other, in a single glass!

Unfortunately, I am able to produce a blend of only 7 out of the 8 distilleries due the fact that Bunnahabhain, at the northern most part of the island, almost exclusively matures its product in Ex-Sherry casks, which as you all know, makes their whisky off limits to us kosher malty mensch lovers!

Although none of their standard bottlings are exclusively Ex-Bourbon, the guys at Bunnahabhain have actually produced a few Ex-Bourbon expressions over the years, but as far as I know, all exclusively for Travel Retail airport shelves, and I have had the pleasure of sampling just one, a few years ago.

I have a neighbour in the same building who used to work for one of the largest pharmaceutical companies here in Israel and his job was to travel all over the world, selling their products. We used to affectionately call him our local international drugs dealer! I’m not sure he appreciated the label, neither did he appreciate the fact that he quite often had to rush to the airport on Motzei Shabbos to catch a plane to a hundred different destinations around the world and would then fly back home on Thursday night, just in time for Shabbos with the family. It was a crazy life and I wasn’t surprised when he announced one day that he had resigned from his company and was setting himself up as a self-employed consultant in order to spend more time with the family. I also have another good friend who lives in the building to our right, who is a kosher food expert for a large kashrus organisation and, similar to my international drug dealer neighbour, travels all over Asia, visiting food factories and supervising the kosher products there.

Both my neighbours do not drink whisky and both dread sitting around doing nothing in airport terminals, waiting for their flights. Consequently, both were more than happy to assist me by sending me WhatsApp snaps of the whisky airport shop shelves (see above for some example photos), on a Thursday afternoon, in whatever airport they just happen to be in that week, and allowing me the luxury of taking my pick. They got to waist some time and I got a bottle of something special, the next (Friday) morning.

Anyway, I’m only telling you all this in order to explain how it is that for a good few years at least, I had direct access to all the best Travel Retail stuff all over the world.

One such bottle which came my way, (and if I’m not mistaken, curtesy of Malaga International airport), was the Bunnahabhain Non-Age-Statement Travel Retail Exclusive – Darach-Ur, bottled at standard Burn Stewart 46.3% abv and exclusively matured in Ex-Bourbon casks. So, I have actually got to sample one bottle of Bunnahabhain but that was many years ago and the bottle is long gone. As I recall, it tasted like very young, spirit-y whisky, displaying hardly any interaction with the cask, which I would guess were Refill hogsheads. I’m sure that Bunnahabhain is capable of producing a much better example of an Ex-Bourbon expression but I’ll have to look for an independent bottler for that, no doubt, as Bunnahabhain is even today, full-speed-ahead on all its special sherry and wine releases. (Having said this, they did actually offer a singe cask Ex-Bourbon 200ml bottle for those visiting the distillery last year. What a pity I did not know about this back in November as we skipped Bunnahabhain this time, seeing as we had been there twice before and they wouldn’t have had, (so I thought at the time), any kosher whisky we could sample).

The Islay Malt Blend line up

So, now I had to decide which of the single malts I was going to pour into my little bottle. I perused my Islay collection.

[This photo was taken the Friday afternoon we got home from our second visit to Islay, back in 2015. Just for fun, I had arranged in a kind of a map of the island, all the whisky glasses obtained at each of the distilleries, on our Shabbos table].

A Map of Islay's Distilleries in "Glasses"

Kilchoman Distillery

So, I decided to begin my virtual Islay tour in the far west of the island, next to Machir Bay. Namely the smallest and my favourite of all Islay distilleries (but not favourite Islay whisky!!), namely Kilchoman. From the little farm Kilchoman distillery I had their vintage 2008 which remains unopened and their 5^th, 6^th, 7^th and 9^th vintage releases of their excellent 100% Islay expression in the distinctive bright mustard yellow boxes. I decided to go for the Kilchoman 100% Islay 9^th edition.

Bruichladdich Distillery

Next, it’s heading east back to the main road, the A847, which runs from Portnahaven down in the far south west, past Port Charlette, Bruichladdich and then Bridgend where it joins the A846. So, making this virtual tour, we turn right and head south a tiny bit to the distinctive Sky blue coloured Bruichladdich distillery.

I still have a bottle of my favourite Bruichladdich, the Laddie 16, long since discontinued. I had two bottles. One is empty, my second remains unopened. So, what do I have available to pour into my little blending bottle? Well I have some unpeated “The Classic Laddie Scottish Barley” open but I also have some Octomore 7.1 and 8.1. I decided to pour into my bottle, a tiny bit of the super heavy peat monster, the 8.1, 100% Scottish Barley and bottled at the high 59.3% abv. Not too much mind you, I didn’t want to drown out the other flavours, so I decided to add half the amount as I did for the Kilchoman.

Lagavulin Distillery

Next, I jumped down to the middle of the Kildalton coast to Lagavulin distillery. The open bottles I had available were the 8-Year-Old 200^th anniversary edition, the 12-Year-Old 2015 Vintage and the 12-Year-Old 2017 vintage. I also recently came across the limited edition “Game of Thrones”, 9-Year-Old “House of Lannister”, bottled at a generous 46% abv. (This was the last bottle of whisky I bought before we were all sent to our homes). I need to do a review of this but I can tell you now, it is really delicious stuff and I don’t have much left of it and little prospect of finding another bottle here in Israel, even after this Mageifa is over, Be’ezrat Hashem, soon!

So, as the 12-Year-Old 2015 vintage, bottled at 56.8% abv, is still readily available here in Israel, (I have explained why in a previous article), I decided that this was the best option, and a poured a generous amount into the bottle.

Caol Ila Distillery

Jumping all over the place to the Port Askaig on the far east of the island, we arrive at Caol Ila. My choice of opened bottles consisted of the standard and all-time-favourite earthy/sour lemon seaweed-y 12-Year-old, the heavily rich yellow fruity 18-Year old and the slightly dusty 25-Year-Old, all coloured, chill filtered and bottled at 43% abv.

I decided that with all these heavy peated donations being made from the other distilleries, I would balance these out with some rich yellow luscious fruit contribution of the 18-Year-Old.

Bowmore (or as those in the know say..”Boh-Morrrrrr”)

Traveling back down the A846, I now arrived at the capital of Islay, the town of Bowmore.

I’ve always thought of this distillery as the Ramban of Islay, as like our great Talmid Chacham of the 13^th century Spain, when pronouncing his name, the emphasis is all on the last syllable, with the first syllable being uttered as quickly as possible.  Rather like the “Beh-Boooom” sound, comedians in the 1970s used to make when concluding the punchline, just to let us know that the joke was over and it was time to laugh. This was sometimes accompanied by a drum roll which mimicked the sound with a loud “Tuh-Tummmm”.

For this distillery I had two bottles to chose from. The basic entry level heavily diluted “No.1” expression, bottled at the minimum 40% abv but tasting more like 30%!

The other option was the 5^th Edition of the Tempest 10-Year-Old Cask Strength, where it states on the box that it’s Non Chill-Filtered, matured in First-Fill Bourbon Casks and bottled at 55.9% abv. The cherry on the cake, (just like the No.1), is the KLBD London Beith Din Kosher Certification proudly printed on the back of the box. This quality dram only loses marks due to some caramel colouring which I’m sure has been added, being that First-Fill Bourbon cask matured whisky should be a beautiful pale straw, chardonnay yellow colour, and this “Boh-Morrrr” looks distinctly orange-y-brown!

This delicious single malt, made in the classic Islay coastal peaty Islay whisky style, is, in my opinion, the perfect introduction into this special group of whiskies. It is rich in yellow fruits and vanilla cake flavours, all coming from the Bourbon casks, with a really mellow and well-behaved character, perfectly and expertly balanced by not overwhelming the senses of newbies with too much peat. Instead it exhibits a well integrated, lightly sweet and salty coastal peatiness.

The artwork of this royal blue coloured box and label shows a violent sea storm with a huge wave just about to crush a whisky barrel. However, the illustration and the name “Tempest” is as far from this dram’s actual civilised character as you could possibly get! I decided that, if there was going to be any chance at all of Bowmore having any influence over this malt blend, then it would have to be this Cask Strength Tempest.  So in it went.

Laphroaig Distillery

I was getting near the bottle neck and had to make room for two more whiskies. This time from another Kildalton coast distillery, to the east of Port Ellen, namely Laphroaig.

My open bottles to choose from was the standard 10-Year-Old, the heavily peated charred oak Quarter Cask and the mildly peated and delicate 18-Year-Old. By the way, I have a bottle of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee 18-Year-Old special limited edition. This is one of two bottles which I purchased from Piup in Ramat Eshkol, Yerushalayim. I opened and drank and finished the first bottle with friends and family to celebrate my birthday. Then, I noticed how much this bottle was going for at auction in the UK. (Gulp!). I there upon went back to the store and purchased the only other one they had for the same price. (Some times, you can get a bargain in Israel). So was it going to be the 10-Year-Old, the QC or 18-Year-Old? I decided again to add a bit of age to my creation and poured some of the precious 18-Year-Old.

Ardbeg Distillery

Leaving just enough room in the bottle, it was time to go to the distillery at the far eastern end of the Kildalton coastline, the distillery which is the first to come into view as you near the island whilst on board the ferry from Kennacraig port on the top of the Kintyre peninsula.

I refuse, out of principle, to buy their ridiculously over-priced Non-Age-Statement gimmicky expressions with similarly over-the-top names, and so, only make sure I always keep a bottle of the standard Ardbeg 10-Year-Old as a permanent feature of my collection. Non Chill-Filtered, with the natural colour of the Bourbon casks, bottled at a respectable 46% abv, this is, in my opinion, the only Ardbeg anyone will ever need. So, we top the bottle off with this classic Islay.

Tasting Notes after 5 hours marrying in the bottle

So how was my very first attempt at master-blending going?

OK, I could tell you shtuyot stories of a wonderful well balanced, delicious masterly concocted Malt-Blend but the honest truth is, initial impressions are, despite having only put a small amount of this Bruichladdich Octomore 8.1 into the blend, the smell of burnt tar, rubber and engine oil flavour notes of this brute of a whisky, were over-powering everything else.

I added some water to my Glencairn glass and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes whilst watching a live from his home in Glasgow, YouTube broadcast of Aqvavitae’s VPub Corona Virus special, where the name of the game was to never mention the Corona virus throughout the entire nearly three hours of video. I think he almost succeeded.

I took another sniff and sip of my blend and it did seem somewhat better behaved. There was now at least some evidence of the other whiskies which I had put into this bottle. Particulay, the Caol Ila seemed to be asserting itself slightly.

A Valuable Lesson in Blending, remembered.

Whilst watching the VPub, my initial disappointment over my Islay Malt Blend turned to optimistic hope when I suddenly remembered that in actual fact, this wasn’t my first attempt at blending at all! A good few years ago I had successfully married three Laphroaig single malts together and learnt a valuable lesson about blending.

On our first ever visit to Islay, after arriving at Port Ellen, our first port of call was Laphroaig distillery. After the distillery tour, I went to spend some money in the shop. So, after taking the statutory Glencairn glasses and trying on a rather smart waterproof jacket, I now had to chose that special bottle to take home with me. There was only one label that stood out. The 10-Year-Old Cask Strength, Third Edition.

When I finally got to open it one Friday night after returning home to Israel, it was one of the mile-stone experiences in my whisky journey. It simply blew me away with its incredibly rich and complex flavours.

Even today, I reckon it was the finest Islay single malt I have ever tasted in my life.  The bottle was quickly nearing the bottom, after only a few months, so I decided to save the rest for a future special occasion.

About two years later I pulled the cork off this whisky to give to an honoured guest who was particularly partial to some “Leap-Frog”, or as he pronounced it, “Lafrowje”. Putting the glass to my nose I knew instantly that something was very wrong. It smelt ashy, dusty and of old stagnant water having been kept in a closed tank for ages. The taste was even worse.

I couldn’t bring myself to throw the last inch of this precious bottle away, and having just watched a Ralfy video about blending two Single Malts from the same distillery together, to produce  different style single malt (yes, it's still single malt as both bottles had come from the same distillery), I decided to give it a go myself.

I thereupon poured some standard 10-Year-Old and Quarter-Cask into my bottle of stale Cask Strength until it was between a third and half full. I gave it a shake and poured some out to try. YUCK! It smelt like burnt plastic glue and didn’t taste much better. Having thought I’d wasted about half a bottle of whisky on this failed experiment, I still could not bring myself to throw it down the sink so I placed it at the back of my cocktail cabinet and totally forgot about it for 3 months.

You can guess, dear Malt Menches, what I am about to tell you can’t you. Pouring some into a glass and swirling it around, gave up wonderful aromas of seaweed salty peat, apple orchard and wet sweet custard pastries. The taste was even better.

No, it wasn’t as good as the original 10-Year-Old Cask Strength but, besides the 18-Year-Old, was the best Laphroaig Single Malt I have tasted.

So, the lesson learnt then which I now remembered, was that you must let a blended whisky settle down in the bottle and go through its marrying process, allowing all those different and competing flavours to merge and integrate.

That being the case, I’m hoping, Be’ezrat Hashem, when it is finally safe to venture out of our homes, that my Islay Malt Blend would have transformed into something which is balanced, fruity rich and sweet......and may this be a "siman" for our lives. Please Hashem, it should be very soon.

To read the UPDATE to this blog, click HERE!