In a slight change to this week’s scheduled post, we have a
comparative tasting of two kinds of blended scotch. On the one hand we have Dewar’s 12 year old, “double aged” while
on the other it’s Jim McEwan’s Symphony
No. 1.
If you’ve been to this blog before, you might be aware that
I’ve had the Dewar’s for some time now, having picked up a litre bottle in Duty
Free last September. It’s been a bit of a grower. I wouldn’t call it special,
but it ain’t bad at all. I’d almost completely finished it, but I decided to
hang on to the last dram until I’d procured another blend to compare it with
and, thanks to my recent distilgrimage to Islay, I had a contender.
Jim McEwan’s Symphony
No 1 was available in the Bruichladdich distillery shop. Jim is Bruichladdich’s
master distiller and is highly respected having worked for 38 years at Bowmore
from the age of 15 before moving to Bruichladdich in 2001. I’ve mentioned him
on this blog before, way back in the beginning when I was professing a liking
for the Bruichladdich Rocks expression. He is probably the first individual I
ever heard of in the industry, so I was chomping at the bit to find out what
this blend, which is comprised of Islay, Speyside, Highland and Lowland malts,
was like. It doesn’t say anything about containing grain whisky in the mix, so
I’m not sure what that might mean – because it doesn’t say anything about being
a blended malt or vatted malt either.
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| the symphony |
I’ve decided to do things a little differently this time and
compare each whisky across a number of categories, just for the sake of
variety. In spite of all this, there is only one statistic that really counts,
and that is how tasty the whisky is.
The first thing I suppose we should discuss is price. These
blends are not equally matched in that respect. The Dewar’s was a Duty Free
purchase, and that showed up on my credit card bill at £28.53 for a litre.
That’s roughly what you’d be looking to pay in a supermarket for 70cl
generally, so it isn’t a cheap blend. I can’t say that it strikes me as much
better than your standard Whyte and MacKay Special, but it sure costs about
£10+ more.
Jim McEwan’s Symphony no 1 on the other hand comes in at a
stunningly wallet-friendly £13 for 70cl. You’ve got to give it a go at that
price. In comparison then, you’re getting 5.38cl to the pound with Symphony and
only 3.51cl to the pound with the Dewar’s – and that one’s at Duty Free prices.
Price category winner: Jim McEwan’s Symphony No 1
I suppose that while we’re talking price, we should also
talk availability. Dewar’s is pretty widely available but as far as I can tell
so far, Symphony is only available from the Bruichladdich distillery shop. So
while that would potentially make it more sought after, it means you’re looking
at a trip to Islay to get hold of a bottle. Not that you would, but if you did
go to Islay for the express purpose of buying a bottle of Symphony No 1, that
could potentially increase the cost of your purchase from £13 to… well, let’s
take the cost of my trip:
Diesel £70
Ferry £80 (for two people and a car – you don’t want to go
on your own, do you?)
Accommodation £90
So not including incidental expenses and assuming you live
in Manchester, or somewhere £70 in fuel away… you’d be looking at £253. Not
such a bargain now, eh? But I’m not going to look at it like that, because my
trip was a nice weekend away, and I bought a couple of other bottles anyway –
it was more a case of, well, while I’m here, I may as well pick up a
bottle of that also…
Since making my purchase, and seeking Symphony out on the
internet, I’ve found two auction sites; one where a bottle was sold for £25,
and another where the bottle was expected to sell for £75 to £100. Quite
astounding, really. It all combines to give Symphony an air of mystique that I
hoped it could live up to.
Make your own mind up who wins the availability category.
Do you prefer exclusive or readily available? I think it depends. The rarity of
Symphony makes me happy because I chose to buy a bottle without knowing anything
about it, but if I was you reading this, and I wanted one, I’d find it
annoying.
Ok, let’s look at aesthetic considerations:
Does it come in a box? Dewar’s does – 1 point. Yes,
bottles are cooler than boxes, but it’s going to come in a bottle anyway, and if
your booze cupboard is full, a box gives you further storage options.
Which is the cooler shaped bottle? A tough one, this.
Neither is particularly special, but I’m going to award the point to Dewar’s
for being a bit stubbier and more robust looking.
Screw-top or cork? Dewar’s is a screw top, but
Symphony has a cork, and I think as such, is the first blend I’ve ever owned
that has a cork. It definitely gets a point for that.
What about the label? I can’t say I’m a massive fan
of that Dewar’s label that has like a cutout section. I’m thinking it would be
more at home on a bottle of ale. However, the Symphony label is probably the
worst I’ve ever seen. It looks like the cover of one of those £1.99 compilation
CDs that you get in Tesco or Wilkinsons. Holy shit; who thought that was
a good idea? So… I was tempted not to give any points here, but I suppose it
will have to go to Dewar’s.
Aesthetic considerations winner: Dewar’s by 3 points
to 1.
Next we have the very important consideration of alcohol
content. Dewar’s is a very standard 40%, nothing remarkable there but, wait a
minute, what’s this? Symphony is a groin-stirring 46%! I don’t believe I’ve
ever seen a blend greater than 43% before. A quick look on The Whisky Exchange
confirms that 40% is far more common, though you do get a few blended malts at
46%. Does this suggest Jim McEwan’s Symphony no 1 is a blended malt? Seems
highly unlikely at £13 a bottle, but perhaps that’s a reward for making the
trip out to Islay. Let’s hope so. I’d like to mention at this point that I did
e-mail Bruichladdich to ask for clarification on this issue, and they haven’t
replied as yet. I know they must be very busy.
Strength winner: It has to be the Symphony.
So that brings us to the important stuff. Cost and therefore
value for money might have some effect on the overall rating but really, it’s
all about how good does the whisky taste?
I’m not going to repeat myself too much in regard to the
Dewar’s. It was decent, but the presence of grain was as self evident as any of
the cheaper blends I’ve tried so far. I doubt I’d spend £25 on a bottle in
future. I won’t shy away from trying some of their other expressions though –
the Signature is supposed to be excellent I hear, however at £195 at The Whisky
Exchange, it must figure way down my list of priorities.
Mostly then, I intend to talk about Jim McEwan’s Symphony No
1.
Ok, to my relatively inexperienced palate, this is quite a
unique blend. I’ve tried all the normal ones and one or two of the more obscure
ones, but I haven’t tasted a blend like this before. It’s light, playful and
well-balanced. I suspect there is some grain in there, but it isn’t as obvious
as I have come to expect.
In terms of nose, I’d say there’s white wine vinegar (but
not in a bad way), tobacco, marzipan and citrus, while on the palate it’s quite
fruity and suggests there may have been some sherry cask aging in there
somewhere. There’s also a herby aroma, but I can’t quite identify which one…
could be sage, but I think it will take a bit more tasting to be sure.
 |
| the symphony |
This is very easy drinking, in fact, let’s not beat around
the bush; it’s superb – and I never considered adding water even for a second.
Why ruin it? I want to say things like ‘for a blend this is superb’ and ‘for
£13, this is superb’, but no matter what you prefix it with, it is superb –
which is good because it’s ‘super’ with an extra ‘b’. I wish I’d picked up
another couple of bottles because it’s cheap enough to drink every day – not
that I’m allowed to drink everyday, but I probably would, if left to my own
devices. It’s better than that though. I doubt I’ll ever get to buy another
bottle of this, but it is going straight to the head of a new list called “buy
on sight”. It is actually special enough to keep in the cupboard and pull out
for a treat. So I think I may have found it; that special blend that it’s easy
to love. Nice one, Jim McEwan; you’ve done it again.
That’s me done for this week, then. If you’ve been in the UK
for the last couple of weeks you’ll be aware that it has been drinking weather
for a good long while now. We are actually having a summer. Remember it because
the last one was seven years ago, and it could be that long before the next
one. What this means in the short term is that it’s the weekend and there’s no
excuse (aside from being skint) for not getting out and enjoying it. Whether
it’s drinks in the garden or out in town, it’s time to get your drink on. Sadly
I’ll be spending most of tomorrow in a hot venue listening to heavy music at
Sound Control’s Summerjam festival. Ah, but what about Sunday? Sunday afternoon
will be spent in various beer gardens, exercising my pint muscles. It’s going
to be a good one all round. I hope yours is too. Laters.
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