Amid GI rumblings in the English whisky world, a brand new category has suddenly emerged. Millie Milliken asks why blended English whisky is on the cards now, and why it’s an exciting flavour proposition behind the bar.

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But while all of these conversations around single malt rumble on, behind closed doors three whisky companies were setting their sights on creating a new category: blended English whisky. “We didn’t know anybody else was doing it,” admits Peter Allison, co-founder and whisky maker at Edinburgh-based blender Woven Whisky, which released the first ever 100% English blended whisky, Pastures New, a blend of six English whiskies, on 1 April. Hot on its heels was Scotch whisky blending pioneer Compass Box with the first ever vatted malt, Scot-Free, on 23 April; and come July, recently revived The London Distillery Company will be releasing the first in a series of blends, The Golden Union Release No1 A Field in England.

While the concept of blended is well trodden for the likes of Scotch, Irish, American and Japanese whisky, adding it to the burgeoning English whisky conversation is a sign of the health of the category right now: as of this year, The English Whisky Map marks that 61 distilleries are currently making (albeit not all selling) whisky, over half of which opened in the last three years.

That’s good news for blenders: “English whisky is now at the stage where it has ample weights, styles and mediums of spirits, which means it has the elements needed to create interesting things,” says Matt McKay, managing director and whisky maker at The London Distillery Company. 

“Our whole thing is about being able to tell the story of how English whisky is right now,” says Allison. “This isn’t about peerage or the process of past times. English whisky is quite a diverse category, it’s not as defined as Scotch, so it was really exciting and fun being able to bring these disparate flavours into one drink.”

It seems consumers and trade are keen to get their hands on English blended whisky too. Woven’s Pastures New sold out of its first release of 700 bottles in record time (the team are working on a second release to meet demand), while 6,500 people entered the ballot for one of the 61 bottles of Scot-Free available. So, what makes blended English whisky so alluring?

Free rein

Myriad production techniques across the gamut – a partial result of distillers having more scope for innovation under the current guidelines – means that blenders have a wide scope of flavours and textures to work with. Heritage grains, long fermentation, a proclivity towards STR casks (scraped, or shaved, toasted and re-charred) and more all provide them with a range of characteristics to bring together while still maintaining some commonality.

“They are all doing quite different things,” says Compass Box whisky maker Michael Stephenson, who sat down with Samuel Travers, also at Compass Box, and a handful of English whiskies to start understanding the styles at hand. “You do get some threads like the cereal qualities, berry notes pop up from time to time, and there are some interesting uses of peat or ex-peated casks. It was a fascinating process.”

In the end Scot-Free comprised six whiskies from five distilleries: The English Distillery ex-bourbon which brought some wholemeal nutty bread to the table, says Stephenson; two components from White Peak, one with a moscatel finish which give dried fruit and jammy character; The Cotswolds Distillery ex-STR barrique for some spice; The Spirit of Yorkshire ex-bourbon for an apple profile; and a small component from Copper Rivet which lends some honey, orchard fruits and maltiness.

For Allison, finding a grain whisky – a rarity in English whisky – in the form of Adnams Tri Grain was the beginning of the domino effect that resulted in Pastures New. “Grain can harmonise a lot of things so I was taking these energetic craft whiskies and was able to really round them out.” Fielden Rye came next adding funk, body and depth, followed by two smoky components – a warm, lightly peated Wireworks from White Peak, and Cooper King’s Dark Fired Bourbon. Cotswolds Distillery STR Cask gives big orchard and hedgerow fruits, and Copper Rivet’s Living Cask Column Malt is the glue that binds everything together, Allison adds.

When McKay launches his English blended malt, he’ll be showcasing a 12-year-old ex-Jack Daniel’s cask Adnams and a 14-year-old hogshead Adnams aged in Jack Daniel’s barrels, alongside a younger The London Distillery Company whisky using heritage barley, giving it a deep and complex spiciness as well as body and texture that also come with Adnams. Future releases might include a focus on sherry and peat, he teases.

Blending big?

What does the future hold for English blended whisky? Promise, sure, but we’re a while off this being a big new category. For starters, as McKay points out, while English whisky’s quality-over-quantity approach is one of its key assets, the stocks just aren’t there yet to do blending on a big scale.

This also plays into the cost of English whiskies which makes buying them for blending comparatively prohibitive to, say, Scotch whisky. And we have a bit of a wait on our hands for older whiskies to come to maturity, too.

But Stephenson is hopeful that this dip of the toe is a sign of potential: “This is still very early days for English blends, these distilleries are still young, building up their stock levels, and regular supply and large scale blending is a long way off. But this is how the future could look.”