It might be considered a general rule of thumb that the more you spend on a whisky, the better it tastes. I'm not sure I'd really agree with that. I've tasted £300 single malts I've not been keen on, and some of my favourite drams can cost as little as £30 per bottle. But I think we might be stretching the concept a little to expect much of an £18.43 blended whisky made, or at least commissioned, by Amazon. And, to clarify, that's £18 for a litre. And, yes, I find that as alarming as you do. To put that into perspective, one of my favourite mainstream single malts is Penderyn Portwood Edition - it's normally £58 on Amazon, which equates to £82.86 per litre. More than £60 more expensive than the own-brand whisky. And even a half-decent supermarket blended whisky, like Johnnie Walker Black Label, costs £47.13 per litre. Even comparing it to the sort of thing friends of mine in my whisky club refer to as "dishwater", The Famous Grouse, it's over £3 cheaper per litre. It's fair to say, then, I wasn't expecting miracles when I poured myself a dram from Amazon's 'Special Reserve' that has apparently been "matured in American oak casks for three years". Firstly, though, a little lesson in blended whisky. Although it's usually cheaper than a single malt whisky, it's not necessarily inferior. That's something of a common myth. A single malt whisky is made from 100% malted barley by one distillery, and it goes through a more time-consuming production process, being aged for at least three years. Blended whisky is more commonly mass-produced and will usually combine malt and grain whiskies to design a unique flavour profile. There will be less influence from a distillery's location in a blended whisky, far less influence from the production methods, and although there is arguably more room for variation and experimentation, cheaper mainstream blends are not considered to be craft whiskies. And Amazon's own-brand whisky is clearly something mass-produced, and one would assume every corner has been cut to get the price down to the frankly worrying £18.43 per litre mark. But, here's the funny thing, you wouldn't know it to taste it. From my very first sip, I can't say I was seduced, but I didn't recoil in horror, either. There's no creamy mouthfeel, and you couldn't call it as smooth as a single malt, but served neat, it's really not terrible. In fact, it's really not all that bad. It's sweeter than I expected, with the merest hint of caramel, and maybe a subtle reminder of vanilla. Dried fruits are in the official tasting notes, but I didn't pick that up. The finish is much smoother than you'd expect, with just the slightest rough edge, but not enough to warrant watering it down. Two drops of water soften it slightly, waking up more of a fruity flavour, but it's far from complex. This is a whisky you can while away an evening with, not having to think too much about what you're drinking, just enjoying it. Yes, I did just say that, I quite enjoyed it. Obviously, it's not a patch on a decent single malt, but it's certainly no worse than some of the better blends out there. And that's a remarkable achievement. This is genuinely a whisky you can sip away at and not find harsh or controversial in flavour. It's not remarkable, but it's not unpalatable either. Of course, it won't suit everyone. If you've never found a mainstream blended whisky to your taste, you probably won't want to punt £18.43 on this bottle. But if you're not fussy, if you just like to nurse a dram of an evening and you want to find something that's as drinkable as it is affordable, this is going to be ideal. Even if you buy one and don’t like it, it’s the sort of whisky you can keep in the back of a cupboard for when that friend comes to stay who always has a bit too much of an evening, and then asks: “Ooh, shall we have a nightcap”? They won’t know it’s an £18.43 bottle, and you won’t care. And, of course, you could always mix it. It makes a great base for a cocktail, for example, or if you were to drown it in Coke, you needn't feel bad about adulterating a decent drink. In this day and age everything seems expensive, especially a decent whisky. So to find one that would equate to less than £13 if it came in a 70cl bottle is, just like the drink itself when poured over ice, quite refreshing.
