There is a long-standing tendency, particularly among newcomers to Scotch whisky, to treat single malt and blended whisky as though they were two entirely separate — and unequal — categories. Historically, however, the two exist in a close and complementary relationship.
Definitions in law
A single malt is made at one distillery from a single grain: malted barley. A blended Scotch, by contrast, combines single malt whiskies from multiple distilleries with grain whisky produced in continuous column stills. Both are matured for a minimum of three years in oak and produced entirely in Scotland.
Why blending emerged
The blended category was born in the nineteenth century, when the invention of the column still made lighter grain whisky commercially viable. Distillers realised that by combining flavourful malt whisky with smoother grain whisky, they could create a spirit of greater consistency, wider appeal and lower cost than any single malt of the era. Blended Scotch conquered the world.
The blender does not diminish the malt distiller's art — he composes with it.
A shared heritage
Today the two categories complement one another. Many of the world's great single malt distilleries also supply component whiskies to the great blended houses, and many of the great blenders are themselves masters of malt distillation. Neither category is superior to the other. They are two chapters of the same book.