In an attempt to “make malt whisky more accessible,” the Wemyss Vintage Malts company just introduced two new whiskies to the U.S.
In the same vein as the Jon, Mark and Robbo (JMR) label several years back, Wemyss Vintage Malt marries a blend of malts and gives them names that describe what the whisky tastes like.
The first one being released is “The Smooth Gentleman,” followed by “The Spice King”. A third expression called “The Peat Chimney” appears later this year.
CEO William Wemyss describes his philosophy:
“By using the aromas and tastes of the individual whiskies to uniquely identify each one, the consumer is able to easily understand what style of whisky is being purchased.”
The whiskies were selected by whisky writer Charlie MacLean and are bottled at 8 years old. I have samples of the two whiskies just released and they tasted as they are described, with the youthfullness you would expect in an 8 year old whisky. If you want to get more information, you can contact William at wjw@wdco.co.uk.
A curious business model given the fate of JMR label, no? Let’s hope these bottlings are not best described as “The Bland Crappy One”.
Would you care to put a rating on these whiskies Mr. Hansell? And will they vary from bottling to bottling but keep the same name?
ET
Ewan, I am about to begin my next phase of whisky reviews. These whiskies are on my short list.
[...] first wrote about Wemyss whiskies last year here . Below are my reviews of [...]