Monkey Shoulder - Blended Malt Scotch Whisky -- 750 mL

What a difference a year can make on my perception of Scotch Whisky. I was barreling towards Single Malts only to be disappointed in a very bad bottle of Macallan 12 year old and now hurtling back to Blends. While I tried various Blends, none seemed suitable beyond Johnnie Walker Red or Black and while I was tempted to move towards Green Label, the online reviews mentioned it's the older, discontinued variation of Green Label that was limited to just four (4) Single Malts that defined this JW version; in otherwords, I missed the party on that one.

And so, to ensure some variety in my collection I opted for Monkey Shoulder which is a Blend of three (3) Whiskies:

Glenfiddich
Balvenie
Kinivie

I am familiar with Glenfiddich and Balvenie and for the most part was unimpressed by Glenfiddich until I tried mixing it with some other Whiskies. So this naturally got me interested in Monkey Shoulder. I don't really know much about Kinivie other than all three Whiskies are part of the same company and it appears they were trying to market it as a Middle Tier between Glenfiddich and Balvenie. That said this Whisky tastes on the sweeter side with a bit of alcohol burn. This drink actually reminds me of how Macallan used to taste like for me, minus the deeper Caramel taste and sweeter smell. Macallan used to taste like candy syrup to me and Monkey Shoulder gets me closer to that than a more recent bottle of Macallan.

So far I've taken it neat and on the rocks and it's quite good. It's not as interesting to me as a JW Black, even though they are in the same price bracket, but I would get bored if I consumed only JW Black all the time and this is a welcome palate changer. I think part of the reason of me leaning more towards JW Black is my growing appreciation for Smokier, Peaty Whiskies like Laphroig and am very excited to try the JW Double Black someday. I'll keep looking for more Blends as this has proven there is much value. $30 is about where I want to spend on a bottle and should last me a month (okay, maybe less with this one...)

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