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Day 3 - KWM 2024 This Is Not An Advent Calendar - Boutique-Y Blended Grain 30 Year Old

Posted on December 3, 2024

Day 3: That Boutique-Y Whisky Company Blended Grain 30-Year-Old

By Evan

Day three is here, and already there may be cracks showing in the lineup order for our first five-day recap tasting! We started with a 55% ABV big and bold peated sherry bomb, then went for a softer 21-year-old bottling with a creamy hit of peat and salt and fruit. Is now really the time for a 30-year-old unpeated grain whisky? It sure is!

Say hello to That Boutique-Y Whisky Company Blended Grain 30-Year-Old!

You can blame me for this one. I championed this bottle being part of our Advent Calendar Whisky tastings because it showcases three big points for me:

It is a well crafted whisky. Pretty much every bottling from That Boutique-Y Whisky Company that I have tried has been.
It is a great value. This is 30 Year Old Scotch Whisky that sells for under $150!
It comes in a full-sized bottle! One thing that has turned many off from That Boutique-Y Whisky Company’s releases in the past is that they are only available in smaller 500ml bottles. This 30-Year-Old Blended grain is part of a series of regular releases from TBWC that bucks that trend.

I could be wrong, but I think this is the first Blended Grain Scotch we have ever featured in an Advent Calendar Tasting. We have had some Single Grain Scotch and Blended Whiskies from outside of Scotland in the past though. We usually feature them because they represent great value while also offering flavours and even textures different from your typical Single Malt. The reason for that is all about the grain used to produce it, and all about the still that makes it.

Some quick background for you: when a label says Single Malt Scotch, that means three things. Well, four things actually:

It was made at one single distillery.
The only grain used to make it was Malted Barley.
It was all produced using pot stills for the distillation.
It was distilled, matured, and bottled entirely in Scotland.

How does a Blended Grain Scotch differ, then? Let’s break it down:

Blended: It is a blend of whisky from different distilleries.
Grain: cereals other than Malted Barley can be used. Wheat and Corn or the most often used grains in this type of whisky production, but others can be used as well.

Like Single Malt Scotch, Single Grain and Blended Grain Scotch has to be distilled, matured, and bottled in Scotland.

One other thing that differentiates grain from malt is the still type used for distillation. Single Grain Scotch is mostly distilled using a column still which is a much more efficient method of distillation than pot stills. I believe you could technically make Grain whisky by running it through a Pot Still, but that isn’t frequently done in Scotland. This is done a hell of a lot more in Canada and the USA, but let's stick to Scotch for the time being.

(A short YouTube video on the difference between a Pot Still and Column Still from Whisky Advocate Magazine)

Most of the time, the reason for producing Single Grain instead of Single Malt whisky is to save time and money. A Column or Continuous Still can be run in a much more efficient manner since it is not just one closed system like a Pot Still is. You also don’t have to do at least two still runs to get your alcohol level high enough in a Column/Continuous still. You just have to set the different levels and plates up within this type of still correctly, and it will strip and distill out as much of those pesky non-alcohol components as you wish in one single run.

According to the SWA, there are currently 8 Grain Distilleries operating in Scotland. Compare that to 151 Malt Distilleries currently in operation. Why is there such a discrepancy?

Well, because it is far more efficient to make Grain whisky, you can produce a lot of it in what are essentially gigantic factories of ethanol production. Cameronbridge Distillery is the largest grain alcohol producer in not just the UK, but all of continental Europe. It is capable of producing nearly 140 million litres of spirit annually. To put that in perspective: The top 11 Malt distilleries in Scotland combined don’t produce enough spirit to hit that number – even if they were operating 24 hours a day with no breaks in operation for the entire year. Grain distilleries are capable of absolutely massive spirit production. What they aren’t capable of is being sexy, quaint, and traditional distilleries like the malt distilleries we dream about Scotch Whisky being made at.

(Click on the picture above to view Drinking Out Loud — A Cheeky Boutique-Y Core Range Reveal featuring Adam and Taran from the Strath Liquor store in Victoria)

Anyhow – back to this 30-Year-Old Blended Grain Scotch. As the label states, this is a batch of single grain Scotch Whiskies that are blended together, with the youngest whisky in the batch being at least 30 years old. There is no hint as to which grain distilleries the whisky originally came from. Many Boutique-Y Whisky Company labels offer hints as to what the source of the whisky in the bottle is. Not this one though. The crusty and aged version of Bambi on this label has seen it all, but he isn’t in the mood to tell us anything.

Where it comes from doesn’t really matter in any case. What is important is where this whisky is delicious or not. Let's give it a go and reach our own conclusions!

That Boutique-Y Whisky Company Blended Grain 30-Year-Old – 45.8%

Evan's Tasting Note

Nose: Werther’s Original Caramel Hard Candies, apple cinnamon oatmeal, ginger root and ginger ale, grapefruit peel, cola syrup, a distant candy cane, and a touch of latex paint.

Palate: Spicy oak, butterscotch, Stroopwafels, maple syrup, root beer bottle candies, milk chocolate, and pear pie with a cinnamon and sugar crumble on top.

Finish: More oak and wood spices as well as a light toffee drizzle on the easy fade, along with a touch of peppermint tea.

Comment: I love this bottle so much. It is a sweet tooth’s oldish grain whisky at an unpretentious price.

Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: creamy, funky, and fruity with a slight medicinal edge; carrot cake with cream cheese icing; juicy citrus, both grapefruit and orange; marzipan and Walker's Shortbread; toasted oak, geranium stems, and fresh potting soil.

Palate: sweet, creamy, and coating, with fruits and flowers; thick with honey, caramel sauce, marzipan, and Walker's Shortbread; more carrot cake with cream cheese icing; fresh squeezed (50/50) orange and grapefruit juice; silky toasted oak, white chocolate, and delicate spices.

Finish: fresh, fruity, and sweet with a coating and creamy toasted oak finish.

Comment: this is an elegant oak heavy-grain whisky, and excellent bang for your buck… this is a great breakfast dram!

What is going on with this lineup so far? Are we moving away from peat instead of progressing to it for the first five-day recap tasting? Only time will tell!

Cheers,
Evan

Playing catch-up on our 2024 This Is Not An Advent Calendar?

You can find the rest of the blog posts here!

This entry was posted in Whisky, Whisky Calendars, Tastings - Online Tasting, KWM Whisky Calendar 2024

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