WhiskyBlender Mark Dermul's 1st Xperiment

On 25th November 2011, a rather innovative idea went online. A site where you can create your very own blend. It seemed like a fun idea. The website – www.whiskyblender.com – looks fantastic, the application is easy peasy and it is just plain good fun to blend your own. Anyway, that’s that I thought. So I got right to it and conducted a little ‘Xperiment’. A few days later, the bottle dropped – proverbially, thank the Maker – in my mailbox. To see the exact composition of my bottle, please visit this page.

The nose is very soft on vanilla, coconut and oranges. Sweet malt and a very light trace of smoke and silt. Fairly grassy and mildly spiced with ginger and cinnamon. It is clearly somewhat young, but certainly agreeable.

It is pretty creamy and mouth coating on the palate. More spices than on the nose. More fruit as well, primarily grapefruit and orange zest. Again that hint of smoke that gives it a little depth. Fairly straightforward and young, but again – very pleasant. At least it has no off notes whatsoever.

The finish is rather short on grapefruit and oak.

It is certainly nicer than the first time I tried it (somewhere in December). Could it be that this is due to the fact that the whisky’s have had some time to ‘marry’? Who knows. Sounds nice (and more than a bit plausible). Sure, it is nice to get a fantastic looking bottle that has your name and the title of your creation on it. But it is also pretty darn good whisky. The only risk involved is that your blend is not a success, but that mistake is yours and yours alone. It is trial and error. It does make you think of the difficulty faced by the real artists in the industry – the Master Blenders – in composing truly magnificent blends. Anyway, it makes for a great gift for a whisky loving friend, parent or colleague.

(2 extra point for creativity, exclusivity, innovation and fun factor)