Blending Houses
All distilleries blend whiskey to release their products (unless it’s a single barrel, of course). While the skill set is the same, we would refer to that as “batching” and those whiskey blenders are creating beautiful products using their own whiskey. It takes true talent and hard work to create consistent releases from a small qty of craft production.
But Blending Houses are working with products from multiple distillers and makers in order to create a unique and beautiful whisky that is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a whiskey that surpasses what they can do on their own and encourages collaboration with other talented makers in the whiskey industry.
Blending Houses
All distilleries blend whiskey to release their products (unless it’s a single barrel, of course). While the skill set is the same, we would refer to that as “batching” and those whiskey blenders are creating beautiful products using their own whiskey. It takes true talent and hard work to create consistent releases from a small qty of craft production.
But Blending Houses are working with products from multiple distillers and makers in order to create a unique and beautiful whisky that is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s a whiskey that surpasses what they can do on their own and encourages collaboration with other talented makers in the whiskey industry.
Meet the distillers and rectifiers that are using their palates and experience to create new and remarkable whiskey using multiple distilleries at a time.
What is a Blending House?
A Blending House uses various whiskey casks from multiple distilleries to create a new and unique product.
But first things first.
Unless your bottle says “single cask” or “single barrel”, your whiskey has been blended. That release of Buffalo Trace or Ardbeg 10? It’s a blend of various barrels all made at a single distillery. So, in that way, all whiskey distilleries make “blended whiskey”, and every distillery has a Whiskey Blender
But when we refer to “Blending Houses” we are specifically talking about companies creating new products using whiskey and spirits from more than one distillery. Often, they’re not even distillers.
There’s a long and glorious history of whiskey blending and blending houses. Early merchants like Johnnie Walker and Dewars began blending whiskey from various distillers as a way of creating product consistency for their own customers. And as grain whiskey (effectively what Americans would call light whiskey) dominated the whiskey scene, they used single malts from those distillers to add depth and flavor to the more cheaply produced grain whiskey. In modern times, brands like Compass Box have turned blending into a true art form.
A New Category
In America, whiskey blends have historically been on the budget shelf as people combined GNS with whiskey to create massive quantities of cheap “blended whiskey”. But as the whiskey craft scene exploded, a few people discovered a new opportunity.
The ability to source high quality whiskey from various distilleries has gotten easier every year. And people who grew up drinking truly beautiful blends from the other side of the Atlantic have approached the American Whiskey frontier with the same spirit of adventure.
Using various spirits from large and small distillers across the US, these pioneers have crafted unique blends that draw from the best of their sources and become something new and beautiful when combined together.
Together, these Blending Houses are creating a new category of American Whiskey and drawing whiskey drinkers into a new and beautiful world.
-Daniel Whittington
Crowded Barrel Whiskey Co
A New Category
In America, whiskey blends have historically been on the budget shelf as people combined GNS with whiskey to create massive quantities of cheap “blended whiskey”. But as the whiskey craft scene exploded, a few people discovered a new opportunity.
The ability to source high quality whiskey from various distilleries has gotten easier every year. And people who grew up drinking truly beautiful blends from the other side of the Atlantic have approached the American Whiskey frontier with the same spirit of adventure.
Using various spirits from large and small distillers across the US, these pioneers have crafted unique blends that draw from the best of their sources and become something new and beautiful when combined together.
Together, these Blending Houses are creating a new category of American Whiskey and drawing whiskey drinkers into a new and beautiful world.
-Daniel Whittington
Crowded Barrel Whiskey Co
