In early 2019, I decided it would be fun to invest in a special tasting set for those quiet times between tasting sessions. My choice was to go super unique with the That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2018 Advent Calendar.
Then my life changed with a move from India to Germany, followed by the world changing with COVID. Fast forward to the fall of 2025, when I was packing and unpacking and repacking between Germany, two homes in India, and Canada… I found myself on our Maharashtra farm contemplating a potential weekend getaway in Manitoba and remembered this delightful box full of quirky and curious drams!
My Manitoba getaway companion is a fellow whisky lady plus our fabulous cottage host, who also enjoys a good dram or two! As I would be just missing her birthday, I decided to pack a few drams to enjoy together in a quiet celebration! Even better – they could be considered an early “appetizer” for the 2025 Whisky Show in London coming up the following weekend! I remembered a brilliant exploration of special blends with TBWC at the Whisky Show in 2022 plus an exceptional 45 year blended grain featured in Paris Live!
What did I pick?
After so much time, it was tough to track down official bottle images and tasting notes; however, I could find a few insights into what the good folks at TBWC had to say about two expressions!
I decided to start with the Japanese and Scottish blend… with no idea what to expect! Here are our impressions, splitting a wee 30 ml mini between three!
Blend of Scottish and Japanese malt and grain whiskies 21 Year Old (2018) Batch 1, 43%
- Nose – Oh my! Lots of bananas, caramel, ripe fruits, a sweet tropical fruit bowl, and warm vanilla cream. As it opened, it even had a caramel buttery quality.
- Palate – Light chilli spice plus chai masala – mostly cloves, joined by coffee mocha, chased by nutty nougat
- Finish – Lingers with an espresso tail, hint of wood
Overall, we enjoyed this one. It had a nice balance between sweet and spice. Nothing complex, and one described it as particularly promising on the nose, hints of sherry cask; however, it “flatlined’ after some time.
Whilst I couldn’t find tasting notes in That Boutique-y Whisky Company’s archive, Master of Malt has this to say:
The very first bottling of Blended Whisky made using malt and grain whisky from Scotland and Japan is here! This 21 year old expression is a globe-spanning delight, with oodles of vanilla and cooking spice notes alongside a deft touch of smoke. Also, the label is generally just rad, so that’s a plus.
Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt
- Nose: A very malty nose opens with Seville orange marmalade and buttered burnt toast. There’s some vanilla, juicy toasted barley and a touch of donuts underneath. Charred oak and red chilli add warmth and savoury spice throughout.
- Palate: Nutmeg and clove add a drying spice which contributes depth to butterscotch and hazelnuts. There’s a subtle tropical fruit note underneath.
- Finish: Medium length, with touches of burnt oak.
Next, we turned our tasting towards a young Scottish expression… I began with what was their #4 expression – the youngest of the bunch!
Scottish Blended Malt #4 6 Year Old (February 2018) Batch 1, 53.6%
- Nose – Fresh and light, youthful apple cinnamon, lemon drops, bay leaf, slipping into wet leaves, dark molasses treacle, and more vegetal elements
- Palate – Sour mash, pepper, with the sense that it simply wasn’t really ready to be bottled
- Finish – Limited
Alas, a massive disappointment after a potentially interesting nose. Now, in fairness, we were three people sampling from a 30 ml miniature. However, given that is the 10 ml Whisky Show pour, we certainly should have enough to get an impression!
What do the folks at TBWC have to say?
This time it’s almost exclusively a single malt from one of our more recently built Scottish distilleries that’s been ‘teaspooned’ (that to say, an imponderable amount of another well-loved single malt has been added). All hail Superspoon who is out to save the world!
Tasting notes:
- Nose: Sourdough bread mix and waxy floral notes. It’s a little herbal/vegetal at first, damp grass, buts sweetens with time giving butterscotch. Hints of cinnamon too.
- Palate: Cream soda, dessert wine grapes and some bramley apple tartness. A hot peppery kick then sweetening with vanilla buttercream.
- Finish: Sweetened chocolate malt, with a hint of barrel char.
After a youthful 6 year, I thought it would be nice to shift back to something a wee bit more mature… This just so happens to be the 1st Blended Whisky expression from their 3rd batch. What did we think?
Scottish Blended Malt #1 18 Year Old (2018) Batch 3, 47.3% 1,049 Bottles
- Nose – Lightly fruity, soapy and floral, summer Scotch, vanilla, yet then becomes oddly musty or dusty, like a neglected wood closet
- Palate – Different – from the sprightly aromas, we weren’t anticipating something quite so “charged up”. Lots of pepper and a few flashes of fruit, imbalanced
- Finish – Stays, but doesn’t say much – a bit peppery and then perhaps sweet
I managed to track down a photo from Batch 3, however, try as I might, I could only find tasting notes for this expression from Master of Malt, who had this to say:
It’s another brilliant blended malt Scotch whisky from That Boutique-y Whisky Company! As you can see on the label, all those whisky fans are admiring the glory of the teaspoon, in reference to this being a “teaspooned whisky”. It’s made almost completely with malt whisky from one distillery, along with just a tiny bit of malt whisky from another distillery. This way it may no longer have which distillery it came from on the label, nor can it be sold as a single malt. However, they do then to be rather brilliant value for money, hence those rather charmed whisky lovers!
Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt
- Nose – Rich with honey and poached pear, alongside a good helping of mature oak. Slowly but surely dried fruit and fresh peels take control of the nose.
- Palate – Honeycomb, milk chocolate, sultana, stem ginger and black pepper.
- Finish – Continued peppery malt, tempered by the return of the honeycomb and some floral air.
Next up, we continued to the Blended Whisky 2nd expression, also a few years older. Given the earlier ones were a wee bit disappointing, we hoped for something a bit more up our palate “alley”.
Scottish Blended Whisky #2 22 Year Old (May 2022) Batch 3, 41.8% 1,650 Bottles
- Nose – Yummy! Chocolate, mocha, rum raisins, caramel – more specifically salted caramel pretzels
- Palate -The espresso follows through, heavier than the nose, dark red fruits
- Finish -A touch of marmalade joins a gentle sweet spice finish
We remarked that this was like Hallowe’en candy, preparing for Christmas. Really quite delicious and one we fully appreciated!
Here’s what TBWC have to say:
This right here is our Blended Whisky #2, which is rather different to Blended Whisky #1. There’s no massive sphere here, but the disembodied glove has returned! This time, it looks to have discovered a massive, soft planetoid. It’s another one of those metaphors!
Tasting note:
- Nose: Honey, oak, vanilla pod and chocolatey cereal.
- Palate: Cherry, spiced rum, thick caramel and a hint of earthy pear.
- Finish: Menthol, freshly baked bread with chocolate spread, orange oil.
In closing, we progressed to the 3rd TBWC Scottish Blended Whisky expression, from their 1st Batch.
Scottish Blended Whisky #3, 23 Year Old (2018) Batch 1, 48.2%
- Nose – Mellons, complex and mature, nuanced, layered, creamy hot milk chocolate, salted caramel, walnuts, cherries, buttery, vanilla pods, rich fruits
- Palate -Soft and silky, a great mouthfeel, joined by warm honey, soft fruits
- Finish – Melting in your mouthmilk chocolate, long with a hint of smoke curling at the end
Gorgeous. Finally. The kind of dram that envelops you in a warm, comforting blanket by the fire and be lulled to sleep. It was both a class act, beautiful, and yet at the same time unpretentious and comfortable. The sample was simply too little as we would have loved to settle down to enjoy it for the rest of the evening.
Here are the original TBWC tasting notes:
The disembodied gloves from Blended Whisky #1 and #2 continue to explore the deep reaches of space on the label of Blended Whisky #3! On this label, they’ve found something rather curious indeed – a length of chrome which seems to go on forever… Metaphors? Metaphors!
Tasting note:
- Nose: Rich and fragrant, with old oak furniture and red grapes on the vine. Intense orange oil later on.
- Palate: Honey’d cereals, dark chocolate and crumbly biscuits. A little bit of vegetal oak in there.
- Finish: Very long, with further indulgent notes of dark chocolate and cigar box.
What an interesting quintet! Whilst we were clearly partial to the 4th and 5th, less enthused about the 2nd and 3rd, it was well worth doing!
We closed our evening moving into a different direction – still a blend but this time a mix of malts from 6 Isles. As the temperature dipped, the fire burned, shifting into a peaty expression was just right!
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