Blue Hanger, 11th Limited Release, Bottled 2014, Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (45.6%)
Critics reviews
The experience is drenched with citrus intensity, but a spectrum of other fruity flavors ricochets around the mouth: peach juice, mandarin, pineapple cubes, and lemon zest revealed in seemingly endlessly changing moments. A firm, unctuous finish shows a little charred wood and dark sugar cloaked in fine smoke. Doug McIvor’s talent for picking and blending exceptional single casks has not gone unnoticed, and this Blue Hanger 11th release is a masterful accomplishment.
Jonny McCormick, whiskyadvocate.com,
About this SPIRIT
Blue Hanger Blended Scotch Whisky
Blue Hanger, a blended malt whisky (a category previously known as vatted malts) is named after William Hanger, the 3rd Lord Coleraine, a loyal customer of Berry Bros. & Rudd during the late 18th century. He was renowned for the striking blue clothes he wore and gained the soubriquet, “Blue Hanger”.
Each release of Blue Hanger is a labour of love. Our spirits buyer, Doug McIvor, noses and tastes his way through many samples to identify exceptional casks before working with them to produce the best possible results in terms of aroma, flavour and finish. Every release is unique although there is continuity in overall style to retain the rich, smooth, fruity complexity that makes this Whisky stand out from the crowd.
Doug says, “We aim very high and with each release I have learned more about the integrity of the Whisky and what each distillate and type of cask will bring to the party. There has always been a strong influence from Sherry casks but I try to rein this in to offer balance and complexity from the other casks"
The Blue Hanger 3rd Limited Release 30 year-old won Best Blended Malt in the 2008 World Whiskies Awards.
Blended Malts
Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (previously known as Vatted Malt or Pure Malt) is a blend of different single malt whiskies from several distilleries. The malts would have been skilfully selected to create an whisky of unique and idiosyncratic character. The vatting process (re-casking into a single container) allows the flavours of the individual malts to integrate (to "marry" together).
However, unlike the whiskies simply labelled as "Blends/Blended", vatted malts do not contain any grain whisky.
One of the most renowned ambassadors of the vatted malts category has been Johnnie Walker Green Label. Other examples include Poit Dhubh, Eleuthera by Compass Box (vatted from Caol Ila and Clynelish), Macphails and Berry Bros. & Rudd's pride, Blue Hanger.
Find out about other whisky styles in the dedicated pages for Single Malt Scotch Whisky (Lowlands, Highlands, Speyside, Islay, Campbeltown, Orkney, Skye, Mull, Jura, Arran ) Grain Whisky , Blended Whisky , Vatted Malt Whisky (aka Blended Malt).
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Winner of Whisky Advocate’s Blended/Blended Malt Scotch Whisky Award
Bottling a limited release of Blue Hanger is always a heady combination of iterative frustration and revelatory discovery. Tasting through our extensive stocks of casks, ranging over every region of Scotland, and every decade of my lifetime is a glorious and meandering task. Blue Hanger is about completeness, textural luxuriance and, above all, balance.
Whiskies from the Highlands, Speyside and Islay all lend their varied voices to the choir of dried fruits, leather and pecan that fills the mouth with every sip. At the finish a misty hint of peat rounds things off with a satisfying coda. This bottling, and several earlier releases, have found themselves worthy of being awarded generous epithets such as Best Blended Malt in the World, which galvanises us to renew our efforts every time we step into the barrel warehouse.
Rob Whitehead, Spirits Buyer
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