My first encounter with Teacher's Highland Cream

[Quaich1]

I tried Teacher's Highland Cream Blended Scotch Whisky for the first time. It has a distinct malty presence with a butterscotch undertone. Though not having the layers of complexity of single malt scotch, it has a comfortable expression with a fast moving kaleidoscope of flavors with a dry finish. Your thoughts?
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"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)

[bifter]

Yes, one of my favourite blends. I wrote a review on the social network at my work, I'll post it here tomorrow if you like? This has a high malt content (45%+), mainly Ardmore, so it's got a bit of character! I thought it was more in the Highland style than Speyside though.
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"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[Quaich1]

[bifter]

William Teacher was a mill worker at the age of seven so he was obviously a self-made man. In 1830 he began work in a Glasgow grocery store. He married the owner's daughter and started selling blended whisky from the shop in 1832, eventually expanding into 'dram shops' (pubs with strict rules) and becoming the biggest licensee in Glasgow. When he died in 1876, Teacher's sons moved the business to St. Enoch Square where it remained until 1991. Teacher's established the Ardmore distillery in 1898, acquired the Glendronach distillery in 1957 and built a blending and bottling plant in Glasgow in 1962 (Glendronach was mothballed in 2000, later to be reopened by Benriach). In 1976 the firm joined Allied Distillers. Allied were acquired by Pernod Ricard in 2005 but the Teacher's brand was sold to American holding company Fortune Brands. This firm was split in two in 2011, with Teacher's becoming part of the Beam Inc range. Today Teacher's is the fifth best selling brand in the UK and is bottled at 40%. It contains at least 45% single malt, a comparatively high proportion - most blends contain 20%-30%. As Teacher's own the Ardmore distillery this is the preponderant malt present though it contains more than 30 malts altogether. According to some the reliability of this blend has deteriorated though I can only review the bottle that I buy.

The colour is brassy though this can surely be attributed to the amount of added caramel rather than age. Having said this the legs are decent for a young dram, certainly hinting at the presence of some older whisky. The nose screams barley malt initially (it benefits from some time in the glass). Young grain spirit aromas are also in evidence with perfumed, feinty, solvent notes. Once I got through these primary colours, shades of citrus, sherry and smoke can be detected and even a very slight sulphur note, possibly from the distillation process rather than sterilised sherry casks, and not enough to be off-putting.

The taste delivers the promised savoury, grainy, cereal notes but this is counterbalanced by a mild caramel sweetness and an oily, creamy mouthfeel. Citrus and ginger are also present. The finish really develops nicely from the palate, I wasn't sure quite where one finished and the other began. As the palate diminishes, a salty, oaky theme dominates but then is overcome by a hot, dry, peppery and slightly smoky finish that has decent length.

As the online whisky reviewer Ralfy notes, Ardmore (the dominant malt in Teacher's) may be a Speyside whisky but it is has the character of a Highland malt. The distillery has eight stills and outputs a massive 5m litres annually. Interestingly, although caramel may find it's way into this blend, Ardmore is barrier filtered rather than chill filtered, though I didn't notice any clouding, even with a drop of water.

This is not a premium drink but it is great value for money (circa £15 for 70cl). I really like the fact that it has a lopsided balance, with the Highland style to the fore, this gives it a lot more character than some other blends. I bought this for making whisky macs but I may end up drinking much of it as is. Annoyingly, in the USA, it seems to sell for as little as $20 and is bottled at 43%!
_________________
"Whisky is liquid sunshine."
[George Bernard Shaw]

[Quaich1]

Bifter, that's a really great review. Thanks so much for posting it.
_________________
"Always carry a large flagon of whisky in case of snakebite and furthermore always carry a small snake."
W.C. Fields (1880-1946)