Blend or Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Blend or Single Malt Scotch Whisky

“Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake.”

W.C. Fields

There are two major types of Scotch whisky – blended and single malt but in practice, there are 5 working definitions of Scotch whisky.


Single Malt Whisky

To be called single malt, the whisky must contain only the product from one distillery and which is made from only malted barley and distilled in pot stills. An example would be Bowmore, Laphroaig, Auchentoshan and Balvenie.

Single Grain Whisky

Distilled at a single distillery using water and barley, though other cereal grains may be used and they may not be whole grains either, and it does not conform to the standards of single malt whisky.  There are only 7 single grain distilleries in Scotland, and examples include, Girvan Distillery, Cameron Brig and North British Distillers with much of the product not being available directly as it is used in the production of other brands.  The whisky is always unpeated and has a clearer color than malt whisky.

Blended or Vatted Malt

Blended malt is where there is a blending of single malt whiskies from two or more distilleries.  The old name for this is vatted malt. An example is Johnnie Walker Gold Label which is a blend of over 15 single malts

Blended Grain

This is produced by blending grain whiskies from two or more distilleries.

Blended Scotch Whisky

Produced by mixing single malt with grain whisky which are distilled at separate distilleries. Examples include J&B (Justerini & Brooks), VAT 69, White Horse and Johnnie Walker Red Label.