{"id":4979,"date":"2018-04-14T14:52:23","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T18:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/?p=4979"},"modified":"2018-04-14T14:52:23","modified_gmt":"2018-04-14T18:52:23","slug":"grand-macnish-blended-scotch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/14\/grand-macnish-blended-scotch\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Macnish Blended Scotch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not exactly a house-hold name in the world of scotch blends, Grand Macnish has actually been in continuous production since 1863. Owned by MacDuff International, the brand has seen a recent expansion into a wide number of expressions (including several aged-stated ones). This is review of the entry-level version, which is the most common offering.<\/p>\n

The whisky was originally developed by a Glasgow merchant, Robert McNish, who wanted to create a lighter, smoother type of scotch. It is composed of malt and grain whiskies from around the highland\/speyside regions of Scotland. While it is not widely available, this entry-level blend has been sold at the LCBO for some time now (currently $40 CAD for 1.14L bottle). Bottled at 40% ABV. I managed to sample it from a friend’s recently opened bottle.<\/p>\n

Let’s see how it compares to other entry-level blends in Meta-Critic Whisky Database:<\/p>\n

Ballantine\u2019s Finest: 7.62 \u00b1 0.61 on 12 reviews ($)
\nCatto\u2019s 12yo: 8.06 \u00b1 0.31 on 5 reviews ($$)
\nCatto\u2019s Rare Old: 8.02 \u00b1 0.67 on 5 reviews ($)
\nChivas Regal 12yo: 7.79 \u00b1 0.44 on 23 reviews ($$)
\nCutty Sark: 7.54 \u00b1 0.46 on 15 reviews ($)
\nCutty Sark Prohibition: 8.48 \u00b1 0.47 on 14 reviews ($$)
\nDewar\u2019s 12yo: 7.94 \u00b1 0.35 on 14 reviews ($$)
\nDewar\u2019s White Label: 7.52 \u00b1 0.71 on 14 reviews ($$)
\nFamous Grouse: 7.65 \u00b1 0.55 on 20 reviews ($)
\nGrand Macnish: 7.87 \u00b1 0.45 on 8 reviews ($)<\/strong>
\nGrant\u2019s Blended Sherry Cask: 8.00 \u00b1 0.21 on 6 reviews ($)
\nGrant\u2019s Family Reserve Blended: 7.69 \u00b1 0.66 on 14 reviews ($)
\nHankey Bannister 12yo Regency: 8.65 \u00b1 0.24 on 7 reviews ($$)
\nHankey Bannister Original: 7.87 \u00b1 0.31 on 6 reviews ($)
\nJohnnie Walker 12yo Black Label: 8.26 \u00b1 0.47 on 24 reviews ($$)
\nJohnnie Walker Red Label: 7.36 \u00b1 0.59 on 21 reviews ($)
\nPassport Blended Scotch: 7.29 \u00b1 1.08 on 8 reviews ($)
\nTeacher’s Highland Cream: 7.95 \u00b1 0.72 on 11 reviews ($)
\nWhyte & Mackay Special Reserve: 7.47 \u00b1 0.45 on 7 reviews ($)<\/p>\n

For the entry-level scotch category, Grand Macnish scores at the higher end of the range.<\/p>\n

Let’s see what I find in the glass:<\/p>\n

Nose<\/strong>: Heavy brown sugar to start. Pear. Raisins. Lemon curd. A bit floral (lavender). Touch of cloves. Some acetone and raw ethanol, but not bad. Slightly musty note.<\/p>\n

Palate<\/strong>: Molasses and brown sugar. Vanilla. Apple and pear. Light cinnamon and pepper. A touch of nuts. Some wet cardboard. Watery mouthfeel, comes across as fairly thin.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Finish<\/strong>: Short. Slight oaky bitterness with a vague frutiness (nothing very distinct). But not unpleasant.<\/p>\n

I would rate this as on par (or slightly higher) than the Meta-Critic average. It has relatively few off-notes on the nose, which is surprising for a blend in this price category. While fairly basic and single, it is better than your typical bottom-shelf scotch blend. An easy to drink blend, I would recommend this one for those newcomers to scotch whisky.<\/p>\n

The most positive review I’ve seen comes for Jan of Best Shot Whisky<\/a>. Jim Murray, Ralfy<\/a>, and Patrick of Quebec Whisky<\/a> and Serge of Whisky Fun<\/a> are all relatively positive for the category (and in line with my thinking). The lowest scores I’ve seen comes from RV of Quebec Whisky<\/a> and Jason of In Search of Elegance<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not exactly a house-hold name in the world of scotch blends, Grand Macnish has actually been in continuous production since 1863. Owned by MacDuff International, the brand has seen a recent expansion into a wide number of expressions (including several aged-stated ones). This is review of the entry-level version, which is the most common offering. The whisky was originally developed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[33,173,18,141],"class_list":["post-4979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whiskies","tag-blended","tag-grand-macnish","tag-nas","tag-scottish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4979"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5222,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4979\/revisions\/5222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whiskyanalysis.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}