24 July/August 2019 _ PopularMechanics.com
DEVON^ JARVIS/STUDIOD.^ P
ROP^ STYLING:^ CAROLINE^ COLSTON/HALLEY^RESOURCELENDING WHISKEYS IS not a new S.
idea. The Canadians and the Scot-
tish have been doing it for years.
And the Japanese, because they’re
obsessed with the Scotch process,
blend whiskeys, too. But Ameri-
can distilleries have only recently
started touting their blends. The shift comes
down to three big changes: 1) A new and deep-
ening appreciation for American “straight”
whiskey (which must be aged two years in
charred oak barrels) by not only Americans,
but the world. 2) A shortage of certain bot-
tlings due to that appreciation. 3) Industryconsolidation, which has provided distillers
with new liquids with which to experiment.
(Also: It’s something to sell.)
It’s not a particularly complicated pro-
cess. Drew Mayville, master blender at
Sazerac, says creating the new, extremely
limited, and outrageously good Mister
Sam blend ($299) worked like this: He
established a concept (blending certain
percentages of American bourbon and
Canadian rye whiskeys, say), then selected
the whiskeys that possess the required fla-
vor characteristics, and formulated a blend,
funneling it into a whiskey bottle and allow-
ing flavors to meld for at least 24 hours. He
repeated the process until he was satisfied.
Jim Beam’s master blender Freddie Noe
went through 32 different blends before he
reached the formula for his Noe Simple Task
blended whiskey, which includes Jim Beam’s
bourbon with whiskeys from the aging port-
folio of Alberta Distillers Limited owned by
Jim Beam parent company Beam Suntory.
(Every distillery has some sort of portfolio
like this, essentially a matrix of liquids, each
of a different age and distillate composition.)
If great stock is available, coming up with
a blend is relatively straightforward. But you
can’t just take a good blend and multiply it.
“I wish it was that simple,” says Noe. “In
Kentucky, some of our distilleries sit down in
the valleys where not as much airflow comes
around them, and some of them sit high up
on the top of knobs where there’s constant
airflow. Some of them are surrounded by tall
trees. Others are directly in the sunlight.”
All of that can affect a liquid’s flavor profile.
Single barrels of the “same” booze sitting
five feet apart can have different profiles.
While consistency might be tough to
pull off, quality doesn’t seem to be a prob-
lem. That’s why blends are such a great bet.
Our favorites include Mister Sam, Noe’s Lit-
tle Book ($68; Canadian rye + bourbon),
Virginia Distillery Company’s Virginia-
Highland Whisky ($58; American whiskey
+ Scotch), High West Distillery’s Bourye
($80; bourbon + rye), and Hotaling’s J.H.
Cutter ($50; bourbon + rye). They’ll end
any aversion to blends—because really great
blends aren’t about making up for deficien-
cies in one liquid, but taking advantage ofThe B.I.Y. Approach
resulting blend will likely be delicious and will definitely be singular.The
Right Mix
There’s more American
blended whiskey on liquor-store shelves. Here’s why—
and why you should try it.
/ BY ROSS MCCAMMON /The hard part of
making blended
whiskey isn’t the
blending. It’s finding
enough of the right
booze to mix up.B
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