Cutty Sark Review

Country: Scotland

Brand: Cutty Sark

Type: Blended Whisky by Berry Bros & Rudd, London

Age: Not Specified

Alcohol: 40%

Colour: Pale Gold

Nose: As always give your whisky sufficient time to open up before nosing. I recommend at least 20 minutes. The Cutty Sark certainly does not present an impressive nose with Malt, Sweet Grain (Breakfast Cereals), Citrus and Oak. There is Alcohol but not as much of it when compared to various other blends in the same price range. At some point I thought I nosed Apple Pie with Raisins and Cream but it’s not consistently there. There’s also something nasty that I can only describe as morning sickness after a stiff night on the town if you know what I mean. Quite a mixed bag that we have here!

Taste: Delivery is a bit thin. Sweet, Simple but Drinkable with some Light Spices, Honeyed Grains, Extra Sweet Toffee and Apple.

Finish: The honey/sugar sticks to the palate for a while followed by Oak and the unpleasant Nutty Bitterness that is so common in Standard Blends and for which I have deducted a full point.

I would not recommend adding water to the Cutty Sark although you get a little bit more fruit (Melon) on the nose. But you completely destroy the  taste.

Rating: 76 

Nose: 19,5 – Taste: 19,5–  Finish: 18 – Overall: 19

General Remarks: This blend was created in 1923, at first especially for export to the USA during the Prohibition. The logo represents a drawing of a Sailing Ship constructed in Scotland in 1869 that bore the same name. The name, bottle and brand mark remind me a bit of pirates and smuggling.

Today the blend is still popular in the USA, but also in countries like Spain and Portugal where it is often mixed.

The blend consists of a number of grain whiskies plus around 20 Single Malts, mainly from Speyside. At its heart lies Glenrothes. Other renowned contributions are Tamdhu, Highland Park, Macallan and Bunnahabhain. The grain whiskies are blended first together as are the Single Malts. Afterwards they are then “married” together.

Drinking Experience Straight: Average/Good (Average because of the bitter finish)

Drinking Experience on the Rocks: Average

Conclusion: Cutty Sark is not an expensive whisky and as such it holds its ground when compared to direct competitors such as Dewar’s White Label, Grant’s Family Reserve, Ballantine’s Finest, Chivas Regal 12 Years, White Horse, the Famous Grouse and Johnnie Walker Red Label. Still it’s depressing when you realise that 90% of all whiskies sold worldwide are blends, many of them of comparable quality, quite a few of them better but lots of them worse as the subject of this review. Anyway, Cutty Sark is an acceptable blend given its competitive pricing. It has some Speyside-like sweetness on the palate and some citrus on the nose. There are some off-notes as well, respectively on the nose (Morning Sickness) and in the Finish (Nutty Bitterness). If you go for cheap and reasonable, Cutty Sark could be your blended whisky of choice. Or you could save a bit longer and buy yourself a Deluxe blend or a Single Malt. Guess what I would do!!!

Jan van den Ende                                                                   January 1, 2012