Blend Project #20 Faultline...

Faultline Blended Scotch Whisky (50.0%): "Our goal when creating the Faultline Blend was to provide the very best whisky at the lowest possible price." That's a pretty good start as far as I am concerned... The quote is taken from the back label of K&L Wine Merchants' very own Faultline Blended Scotch Whisky which I will be pouring today. With a price tag of only $25 attached to its neck and a bottling strength at %50.0 abv this whisky makes a perfect contestant for my ongoing Blend Project without a question. It is blended by Douglas Laing & Co. exclusively for the Californian wines and spirits merchants K&L with a recipe involving a very high malt whisky content mainly sourced from the Islands (spoiler alert...). Color: As light as a whisky at legal age possibly can be: Very light straw, like an Aligote. Nose: New make spirit, iodine tincture, rubber bands and dry grass. Asparagus, bitter greens and salted butter. Dried apple rings, wet sand and bonfire on the beach. Very promising start, my kinda young and peaty nose. Adding water made it way more approachable but thinned out the nose a little: Less peat more first aid cabinet, less fruity more grassy now... Palate: Black pepper, hot butter and charcoal. Dandelion greens, lemon juice and garden soil. Sweet soot and graphite pencil. Dry, peaty and grassy. Water makes the texture creamier. Brioche dough, rock salt and double cream brie cheese. A little Eau de Vie, maybe unaged Slivovitz notes, probably coming from young grain whiskies. Cannot wrap my head around how young but at the same time how tasty and enjoyable it is. Finish: Medium long with bitter greens, new make spirit and white pepper. Overall: I know, I know... This is all my soft spots bundled in a single bottle: cheap, contains extremely young peaty malt whiskies, doesn't consist caramel coloring, didn't go through chill filtration, bottled at %50 abv, etc... But I think it doesn't change the fact that Douglas Laing & Co. made an extremely good job with this blend. I have to warn that this is not a blend for everyone though. Wouldn't recommend it to people who can be easily thrown off by new make notes. I know a few friends like that and they would absolutely hate it. It's young, peaty and grassy. For my two cents, it's a no brainer, loved it... If I had to guess I would name Ledaig as its backbone malt especially after the hint given away with the press release mentioning the whiskies sourced from "Islands". Well, at the end I feel lucky that I live in SoCal now and that I have access to this whisky for a while. It looks like I found my everyday dram here for this spring...

P.S. After writing this review I tried this blend in different highballs with ginger ale, club soda, etc. and all work great... Just in case you are wondering.

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