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The Famous
Grouse Masters share there knowledge
through the Famous Blend
bartender engagement programme in
Glasgow.
I recently had the chance to attend
The Famous Grouse Masters of the Famous
Blend bartender engagement programme in
Glasgow which brought together the
Masters behind The Famous Grouse blended
whisky including Master Blender,
Kirsteen Campbell; Master of Wood,
Stuart MacPherson; Global Brand
Ambassador, Lucy Whitehall; and Master
of Mixology David Miles from the Maxxium
Mixxit team.
Aimed at giving bartenders an insight
into Scotland's favourite and the
UK's best selling blended whisky, the
event was kicked off by the Famous
Grouse's enthusiastic Global Brand Ambassador, Lucy Whitehall
who introduced the audience to the ‘four
fundamentals’ of The Famous Grouse
brand: foundation; finest; flavour; and
fusion, before providing a fascinating
overview of the heritage of the famous
brand, and the foundation it is built
on.
Stuart McPherson who carries the rather
odd title
"Master of Wood", then gave us an interesting
incite
into the Famous Grouse wood policy and
the impact that this has on the flavour
of the whisky.
Kirsteen Campbell The Famous Grouse
Master Blender then gave us an insight
into the the complex art of blending
whisky by first of all presenting the
audience with some interesting new make
malt spirits from a few of the Edrington
Group owned distilleries as well as some
grain spirit from their part owned North
British distillery grain distillery in Gorgie,
Edinburgh.
The new make spirit sample which
caught my interest was Ruadh Maor malt spirit, a peated malt
which is produced at the home of the
Famous Grouse, the Glenturret
distillery. Ruadh Maor is produced using
heavily peated malted barley, 80ppm,
which is a significantly high number, of
course this number is reduced during the
distillation process. Ruadh Maor has
been produced at Glenturret since 2009
and other than one bottling released in
The Whisky Shop chain all Ruadh Maor
goes to blending. In fact it is Ruadh Maor
that gives Smoky Black (formerly known
as Black Grouse) its smoky character. I
asked Kirsteen what the peating level is
in Smoky Black, she told me that it is
around 17ppm, which to put it in
perspective is around half of
what you would find in an Islay single
malt such as Caol Ila 12 year old.
Personally I think the peat level in the
Smoky Black is spot on and it is one of
the best smoky blends available.
Kirsteen also took us through a tasting
of a few whiskies from The Famous Grouse
range, starting with the aptly named
Famous Grouse "Finest", which is an old
favourite of mine and probably out of
any Scotch blended whisky the one I have
drunk most over the years, you try and
find a bar in Scotland that hasn't got a
bottle on the gantry and there is a very
good reason for that it is a very good,
very complex and very enjoyable medium
bodied blend with a lovely balance of
sherry and bourbon cask matured malt
whisky blending in well with the sweet
grain.
Kirsteen then introduced us to the
Famous Grouse Mellow Gold which was only
added to the range a couple of years
ago, it is certainly a smooth, mellow
easy to drink expression of The Famous
Grouse with a noticeable sherry
influence.
Last but not least Kirsteen talked us
through the Smoky Black which as I
mentioned above gets its smokiness from
a rare single malt produced at
Glenturret called Ruadh Maor, this is a
lovely rich, spicy, sweet and smoky
blend, smooth but still with a touch of
roughness which works well with this
smoky style of the Grouse.
Finishing off the presentation was
Master of Mixology David Miles from the Maxxium
Mixxit team. David demonstrated a range
of serves from simple through to the
more complex cocktails which certainly
got the interest of the bartenders in
the audience. David demonstrated that at
the heart of a good whisky cocktail is a
good spirit and how different
expressions of the Famous Grouse are
suited to specific cocktails.
Following the presentation I got the
chance to sit down with Kirsteen and put
a few questions to her about what her
job involves with Scotland's favourite
and the UK's best selling Scotch blended
whisky. You can read my
interview with Kirsteen Campbell
HERE
You will find the current range of The
Famous Grouse available from specialist online
whisky retailers such as
Master of Malt
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