When single-malts were a novel idea

[Troglodyte]

This might not be a regular kilt issue theme, but as most of us kilties are partial to a dram or two, I thought I would sound you out on this...

I happened to be flicking through a back-number of The Scots Magazine (December 1971, to be precise) today, and came across a startling article.

Under the headline of 'Straight Malt' the writer recounts his recent novel experience of going on the first ever organised single-malt tasting.

Put on by the Spey Valley Tourist Organisation, this was the first single-malt tasting to be available to the public - with the aim of introducing malt whiskies to both the public and hoteliers alike, and so open up a new market.

Up until this time, most readily available bottled Scotch was blended, as quality standards, flavours, character, etc, could be controlled; whereas malts were less predictable and so were thought too risky to market.

Many of the popular blends available at that time are no longer seen, while the distilleries have widened their single-malt offerings to a bewildering degree. The days of having only the option of a standard ten- or 12-year-old, with maybe an 18-year-old 'rare' as the rich man's option, seem long-gone.

So how would you like to go back to a maltless time..?

What would be your blend of choice..?

[12stones]

Personally, I love the single malt idea because it allows more variation that can be done in smaller batches. But, if Laphroaig or Lagavulin or any of the other Islay makers wanted to do a blend, I'd probably be on board.

[Troglodyte]

The article says that all the single-malt and single-grain whiskies then available were sampled.

That is, a total of 49 single-malts and one single-grain.

Amazing to think what the offering is now, but some of the distilleries that were producing back in 1971 are no longer operational.

The adverts in the magazine are a fun glimpse into the past, too. And what prices..!

Would you not like to see double width tartan still at £0.96 ($1.23) a yard, and 70"x80" rugs for £2.95 and postage at just £0.20..?

And a bottle of Scotch might be as much as £2.00..! I'd be a dipso' at that price.

It's all proportionate, though. A working man would have been earning around £20 a week, and could live fairly comfortably - a long way from the £680 nowadays.

[OC Richard]

Looking through, for example, vintage bagpipe catalogues it's hard to not be amazed at the prices.

There was a discussion about this a few years ago on a piping site, and one person posted this:

£40 in 1955 is equivalent in purchasing power to about £1,056.37 in 2020

The bottom line seemed to be that bagpipe prices haven't changed much over the years when compared to the value of the pound and people's average wages at the various time-periods.

[DCampbell16B]

(Only slight change of direction): The economics professor at my undergrad school was Prof Rankin. He emigrated from Scotland with his parents when he was about 6. He gave me about 11 years worth of the Scotsman from about that same time period (late 60s-70s). They are up in the attic somewhere. I learned a great deal from them. I got the read Para Handy tales, place name origins from Bill Nicolaisen (whom I later got to know), stories and history from Alistair Carmichael, pictures of how highland dress was worn in Scotland, and so much more.

Good stuff. I need to dig them out again.

[JPS]

I think it's a shame what blended whisky has become. There are few real high quality blends on the market, though bottlers like Compass Box and Douglas Laing are doing fine work. I have a few favorites outside of those blenders, as well, but the premium has now been applied to single malts, which puts pressure on them to produce at volume a product that can only benefit from careful selection at all stages of production. This economic condition has also placed all the demand risk on the individual distillery, placing additional upward pressure on prices and downward pressure on quality.

[MacKenzie]

So how would you like to go back to a maltless time..?

I wouldn't.

What would be your blend of choice..?

I wouldn't know. Don't recall ever having one.

[Troglodyte]

I wouldn't.



I wouldn't know. Don't recall ever having one.

No..?

You're depriving yourself, you know...

Unless you restrict yourself to specific single cask bottlings, you drink a form of blend every time you pour out a single-malt.

True, it's not a blend of malt and grain whiskies from different distilleries, but the bottled single-malt is a mix of the whiskies the distillery has available. The age statement will be the youngest spirit, but there may well be a selection of others in there to help it out.

I guess the only way to get the real taste of a whisky, is to be there at the first opening of the cask and to sample the undiluted, unmixed spirit - before it goes into wine or sherry barrels and is watered-down to reduce the alcohol level.

Poor punters like us never get such a treat - and there's good reason for that..!

[Liam]

I had my first taste of single malt in 1978 while visiting NE Scotland. A friend of My wife’s grandfather bought me a dram of Genmorangie. Prior to that I had only had Jonny Walker Red and thought that was what scotch tasted like. I was hooked for life. To this day if I have a dram of Glenmorangie Original I am transported back to that time and place. On the same trip we toured the Glendronach distillery and tasted their 8 year old single malt. At the time the bulk of their whisky went into Teachers’ Highland Cream.
Single malt at the time was bit of a novelty and the price a deterrent.

[Jock Scot]

"All whisky is good, its just that some whiskies are better than others," or so my father used to say. Over a fairly long life I have come to the conclusion he was right! He also was of the opinion that "whisky is a mood drink" in other words the taste alters depending on the occasion and its ambiance. He was right about that too!

For what it is worth, my favourite go to labels are Talisker as a single malt and Famous Grouse as a blend.