Go on, admit it. You can’t always reach for a bottle of fine single malt, which means that where needs must, a blend will fill the gap. I have fond memories of Bell’s, Teachers and Grouse from my youth – not that I was drinking it, er-herm, but they were iconic brands that stood out as cultural icons be it on TV, in film or inside the drink cabinets of my father and his friends. Think late Seventies when leather gloves were mandatory for men, driving a Ford Capri 3.0 S Mk III was tantamount to being a god and chatting up a member of the opposite sex took less time than downing a pint of Watney’s Red Barrel. Good times – perhaps.
But what of today’s blends? Within drink cabinets the three are still lurking, but I look over and see a new kid on the block, albeit an old kid. Lauding the moniker ‘Spirit of Adventure’ and at a spritely 90 years since it was first created (in none other than the parlour of London wine merchants Berry Bros. & Rudd), Cutty Sark blended Scotch please step forward. Lighter in taste and tone than a lot of the current blends, it swerves the astringent bite you get with many blends although it still comes in at 40% vol with the kick you’d expect. Crafted with the American oak-aged grain whiskies, and combined with fine single malt whiskies including The Macallan, Highland Park and Glenrothes, the base of the drink has some merit.
There’s a bit of history here as well. During prohibition in the United States, notorious smuggler Captain William “Bill” McCoy sold illicit Cutty Sark, skilfully avoiding the US authorities to the delight of the thirsty clientele in clandestine speakeasy bars. His reputation for only dealing in genuine, unadulterated liquor gave rise to the expression, ‘The Real McCoy’.
How about popular culture? A favourite of Martin Scorsese with a guest appearance in Raging Bull and more recently drunk with gusto on Mad Men, referenced in books by authors such as Graham Greene and Paul Auster, popular seems to fit.
So don a pair of gloves, rev up that Capri or slip behind a thick velvet curtain into your favourite speakeasy and have a glass of Cutty Sark. No smuggling required.
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