Stillman's Cask Blended Malt Review

It's time to go back to basics and peruse the supermarket aisles in search of a bargain basement dram that could potentially be a daily sipper or even surprise by actually being half decent. My run of form so far with the supermarket off licence, whether here or on Malt, has been a pretty turgid affair. There has been little of note to write home about and mostly it has been tinged with regret and a feeling that my pennies and those of my bottle share group could have been spent much better elsewhere.

Curiosity is both a wonderful and dangerous thing....and so with trepidation I decided to part ways with a whole £20 in Tesco to buy the 'Stillman's Cask', a blended malt containing no less than 'twenty specially selected single malt whiskies brought together for a harmonious finish.'

The back of the bottle gives us a little more insight into this funky fusion. 'These malts are then left to "marry" in sherry casks to allow the lighter, honeyed flavours of Speyside and the rich full bodied Highland malt whiskies to fuse together in perfect harmony.'

What malts were combined for this masterpiece then? Well there are no specific distilleries listed but a little further digging tells us that this bottle is concocted by MacGregor Ross & Co of Glasgow, G2 5RG. This postcode just so happens to coincide with Whyte & Mackay's Dalmore House so it's a fair bet to assume that at least some of this is made up with spirit from Whyte & Mackay distilleries.

That means that in this dumpy little bottle we could have Dalmore, Fettercairn and Tamnavulin. Possibly even Jura. Perish the thought.

On to the tasting notes then.

Colour: 

Industrially produced whisky gold with a hint of Dalmore fake tan.

Nose:

Green apples and pear drops. Barley sugar. Also has an artificial saccharine note to it. Dried apricots. Eventually a very faint sherry note with raisin and marzipan but you'll really need to search for it. Finally a little draff. A thin nose lacking in punch or dynamism.

Palate:

Quite a sweet arrival of honey, apple crumble topping (sweet disgestive biscuit and brown sugar). A little date and raisin. No real development after this.

Finish:

Short and fruity - fruit salad sweets and foam bananas (that artificial sweetner note rings through from the nose).

Overall:

Simple, innocuous and totally one dimensional. It's drinkable yet completely non descript and non memorable. For the money it would be hard to look past Jameson or Bushmills white label.

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