Exceptional whisky?

What do you call an American venture that blends and bottles Scotch whisky? Sutcliffe & Son have labeled their brand The Exceptional. Don Sutcliffe, the managing director of Craft Distillers, teamed up with Willie Phillips, a former managing director of The Macallan, to source fine Scottish spirits and bring them to the American market. I ordered a sampler containing The Exceptional Grain, The Exceptional Malt and The Exceptional Blend to see if they were as exceptional as advertised.

How are the three styles different? A Grain whisky is made from corn, rye, wheat, barley or other grains, typically produced in a column still. Think of Bourbon as a grain whisky. Malt whisky is 100% barley, produced in a potstill (picture a large upside-down funnel). A Single Malt comes from a single distillery, but can be an aggregate of multiple casks, even of different ages. A Scotch Blend contains at least one Single Malt and one Grain whisky.

The Exceptional Grain states lower on the label “Blended Grain Scotch Whisky”. In this release Sutcliffe and Phillips combine Grain stocks from Loch Lomond, Strathclyde and the North British Distillery. The prize ingredient is 30-year-old spirit from a ghost distillery, Carsebridge, closed in 1983 and now demolished. The blend is finished in first-fill sherry casks before bottling.

The Exceptional Malt is “vatted”, meaning Blended Malt Scotch Whisky. The combination includes Single Malt from Alt-á-Bhainne, Auchroisk, Ben Nevis, Glenallachie, Glenfarclas, Speyside and Westport. There are three other unnamed distilleries, but the recipe boasts 30-year-old Macallan stock. The vatting is finished in first-fill Oloroso sherry casks.

The Exceptional Blend contains eleven Single Malts (including the 30-year Macallan) plus three Grain whiskies. The classification is Blended Scotch Whisky, and it is likewise finished in first-fill sherry casks. The Grain, Malt and Blend are all bottled at 43% alcohol by volume.

The tasting

In color, the Grain (sample A below) was the lightest of the three, the Malt (B) was the darkest, and the Blend (C) was understandably in between. I perceived the colors as pale gold, light bronze and light gold, respectively. The marketing material used a different palette but a similar spectrum: warm amber, golden amber and medium amber.

A = Grain, B = Malt, C = Blend

After pouring the samples I swirled the liquids to check their legs: the Grain formed a string of ornaments hanging from the collar of the jacket, with only a few tears weeping down the inside of the glass. The Malt formed a rope along the collar; after a minute a cascade of tears broke free. Some sediment clung to the side of the glass. The Blend had an early flow of rivers down the valleys of the ridgeline, later developing a string of ornaments.

My main enjoyment of whisky is exploring its variety of aromas. Rubbing the Grain on the back of my hand evoked kid leather, corn oil (suggesting corn as the predominant grain) and a creme-filled donut. There were other sweet notes in the glass: caramel, candy corn and almond butter. The Malt was earthier, with saddle leather, light smoke (which perhaps accounted for the residue in the glass), heather and honey. What a pleasure to get a whiff of Raisinets (chocolate-covered raisins) as well.

I found a similar note in the Blend, reminding me of Sunshine Golden Fruit – an American cookie (now discontinued) with puréed raisins baked in a thin crust. The association was so strong that I went online and ordered a dozen packages of the British equivalent, Crawford’s Garibaldi Biscuits, made with currants. (On a side note, Crawford’s was established in 1813 in Leith, Edinburgh, which brought me full circle back to Scotland.)

My least favorite part of whisky is the flavor. To me, most whiskies come off as peppered ethanol. I have to search deeper to find any engagement. The Grain hit me with sourness and dustiness (a characteristic of corn whisky), but underneath I found cinnamon Graham crackers. Adding a few drops of water brought out a creamy texture. The Malt started with smoky phenol and bitter radish, but holding the liquid mid tongue revealed a butteriness. The Blend was my favorite, with some faint cinnamon and butterscotch offset by olives. That said, all three drams improved with time in the glass.

Sutcliffe & Son sell The Exceptional Grain for $100, and The Exceptional Malt and The Exceptional Blend for $120 each. Would I spend $340 to have these bottles in my collection? Never. Was it worth $40 to get three 50 ml samples of these rare sourced blends? For a pleasant evening with my nose in a glass during sequestration, maybe just.

Cheers!