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Blended Whiskey
Blended whiskey means two different things and the labels do not distinguish them. One is a mixture of straight whiskeys married by a blender. The other can be one-fifth whiskey and four-fifths neutral spirits. Both are legally blended whiskey. Here is how to tell which one you are holding.
1 bottles match
Two categories, one phrase
American labelling rules define two separate things, and ordinary speech calls both of them blended whiskey.
Blended whiskey must contain at least 20% straight whiskey. The remaining 80% can be neutral spirits, which is to say vodka. The category exists because it was cheaper to make whiskey go further, and it is where most of the bottom shelf lives.
A blend of straight whiskies is what it sounds like: straight whiskeys and nothing else, with no neutral spirits except as a carrier for a flavouring. A blender chooses barrels of different ages, mashbills or distilleries and marries them into something that none of them was alone.
The gap between those two is about as wide as any gap in American whiskey, and the front label is not obliged to tell you which one you are holding.
How to tell without reading the regulations
An age statement
Nobody puts an age statement on a whiskey that is four-fifths neutral spirits, because the number would mean nothing and the marketing department knows it. An age statement on a blend is a strong tell.
The proof
The 20% category is built to hit a price, and it is almost always bottled at 80 proof. A blend bottled at barrel strength is a blend somebody expected you to taste.
Named components
When a producer tells you what went in, you are not looking at the cheap category. High West Bourye is bourbon and rye, and says so in its own name.
What a blender is actually doing
A single barrel is a photograph of one cask. A blend is an argument about what several casks are for.
A blender working through forty barrels is not looking for the best one. They are looking for three that do something together that none of them does alone: one carries the fruit, one carries the oak, one fills the hole in the middle. That is a different skill from picking a winner, and it is why a good blend can beat every component in it.
Where the sherry comes in
Take Kansas City Whiskey. It is straight bourbon, light corn whiskey and straight rye, plus a measure of fifteen-year-old oloroso sherry from a bodega in Jerez. The producer publishes the components and not the proportions.
It is the clearest illustration of the distinction on this page: nobody adds aged Spanish sherry to a whiskey in order to make it cheaper. That is blending as a recipe, and it is the opposite of blending as arithmetic.
Shopping this page
Read the age, the proof and the components, in that order. Where we know what went into a blend we put it on the product page.
If you want the opposite approach entirely, the [single barrels](/collections/all-single-barrels) are one cask with nothing added and nowhere to hide. The [bourbon](/collections/bourbon) and [rye](/collections/rye) shelves are where most of what goes into these blends comes from in the first place.
What is blended whiskey?
In American labelling rules it is a mixture containing at least 20% straight whiskey, where the rest may be neutral spirits. In ordinary speech it also means any whiskey made by combining whiskeys, which is a different and usually better thing. The phrase covers both, so the bottle has to be read rather than the category.
What is the difference between blended whiskey and a blend of straight whiskies?
A blend of straight whiskies contains only straight whiskeys, with no neutral spirits except as a carrier for a flavouring. Blended whiskey needs only 20% straight whiskey and the other 80% can be neutral spirits. They are separate legal categories and people use one phrase for both.
Is blended whiskey worse than straight whiskey?
Not inherently, and the question hides the real one. A blend that is mostly neutral spirits is a cheaper product by design. A blend of straight whiskeys chosen by a blender can be better than any single barrel that went into it. Same phrase, opposite intentions.
How can I tell whether a blend contains neutral spirits?
Look for an age statement, a proof above 80, and named components. Nobody prints an age on a whiskey that is four-fifths neutral spirits, and nobody bottles that product at barrel strength. Any one of the three is a reasonable signal and all three together is close to conclusive.
Why blend whiskey instead of bottling it straight?
Because barrels are not interchangeable. One can be all fruit with no backbone, another all oak with no middle. A blender puts them together to make something complete, which is a different job from choosing the single best cask and often produces a better glass than any of the parts.
Is American blended whiskey the same as blended Scotch?
No. Blended Scotch means single malt combined with grain whisky, both of them whisky, and it is the majority of all Scotch sold. American blended whiskey is a different rule that permits neutral spirits. The word blended is doing a different job in each country.