Blended Scotch Savings: Monkey Shoulder

I have not spoken too much about bkended whisky, mostly due to the fact I don't drink as much of it as I used to. However, I have been really intrigued by Monkey Shoulder due to it being made of three top quality single malts from Balvenie, Kininvie and Glenfiddich. Best of all though it is currently on special at Tesco for £21.

Monkey Shoulder is named for an injury sustained by those that turned the malt in ditilleries and is referenced by the three monkeys on the bottle's shoulder. This points to Monkey Shoulder being the first three malt blend with malt and barley blends being far more common. Bearing this in mind, this should be far more reminiscent of a single malt than most blends, but may be a bit middle of the road.

On the nose there's sweet spice, orange peel, florality along with some caramel and toffee. This is a pretty sweet nose and is somewhat reminiscent to me of the Glenmorangie 10yr, it's very nice and friendly, very inviting.

On the palate the spice hits first again, it's quite toasty with some dried fruit and berries coming through. Whilst not hot at the back of the throat there was a slight burn on the tongue, but this is a very nice and creamy blend and is good for the price. This is a nice whisky, very easy drinking nice and sweet with spice chucked in the mix. There's not too much complexity, but it is still a very tasty dram.

Monkey shoulder is one of those that does come on offer from time to time and I think it would make a great Christmas present (yes I have started looking that far ahead). If you can't get this lovely blend on special then perhaps look to buy the special edition in the cage presentation box which is really, really awesome. I cannot express how much I love this presentation case other than to say that I bought it despite the whisky being on offer.

Monkey Shoulder is available at Tesco for £21 currently and in it's presentation box is available at Master of Malt for £26.87 (less than most supermarkets for the bottle alone).