The Black Grouse

Review: The Black Grouse Blended Scotch Whisky  86/100
a review by Chip Dykstra (Aka Arctic Wolf)
Posted on October 7, 2010
(Revisited February, 2014)

The Black Grouse Blended Scotch Whisky is relatively new whisky from the makers of The Famous Grouse. The company has a history in Scotland reaching back in time to 1896 when Wine Merchants, Matthew Gloag and Son, first blended what they called their ‘Grouse’ Whisky.  Over the next century The Famous Grouse would become one of the most popular brands of whisky in Scotland.

The Black Grouse is an offshoot of its popular cousin, The Famous Grouse, which is a blended whisky containing premium Single malts such as The Macallan and Highland Park. These single malts (as well as others in the blend) are married with a selection of fine grain whiskies in fully seasoned oak casks. The Black Grouse begins where The Famous Grouse ends, and is the result of a further blending of the Famous Grouse Whisky with Islay Malt Whiskies. The resulting whisky has a peated flavour profile with a reportedly dark smoky character.

As a side note, The Black Grouse, Tetrao tetrix, is a rare relative of Scotland’s national game bird, the Red Grouse. When the new blend was launched, The Famous Grouse made a commitment to preserve this rare game bird by donating 50 pence from each bottle sold to the conservation efforts of The Black Grouse habitat.

This information is expanded upon on The Black Grouse Website.

In the Bottle 4/5

The Black Grouse whisky arrives in an attractive display box which has a nice balance of graphic design and useful information. I especially like that the box clearly identifies the whisky as one with a smoky, peaty character to serve as an invitation to those who like the peat and the smoke and a warning to those who do not.

The bottle presentation, shown on the left,  is fine except for the annoying metal screw cap which crowns it. I remain firmly convinced these caps are inferior to plastic caps as they allow evaporation from the bottle to occur more easily and are subject to warping when the metal perforations must be broken to open the bottle the first time. I have been forced many times to find corks in lieu of these caps to preserve the whisky on my shelf.

In the Glass  8.5/10

When I poured the Black Grouse for the first time I was somewhat surprised by the light smoke and peat rising from the glass. I was expecting far more. This prejudice on my part was based upon the stereotype I carry in my mind for Islay Whisky. The facts (which I well know) are very different from the stereotype. Some Islay whiskies carry that overwhelming peat and smoke into dram, but many others  have a much more gentle profile to offer. The nose of the Black Grouse, is indicative of the more gentle style. The peat is there to be sure, as well as a trailing smoke-filled with raisin and prune.  But we also have a punchy caramel sweetness here as well which seems to invite us to explore further.

In the Mouth 52/60

The initial impression in my mouth is of beguiling sweetness coupled with a ribbon of soft smoke and organic peat. As I noted earlier, the peat and smoke are gentle rather than forceful. The sweetness manifests itself as a honeyed caramel. The smoke shows evidence of a sherry influence with dried fruit (raisins and prunes) and soft pops of cherries. The peat seems organic coming across as soft and chewy with a distinctive boggy taste.

The whisky also seems to presents a nice backdrop of woody spiciness, which enhances the flavour of the whisky but never becomes too sharp. I like the overall structure and balance which seems to have flavours which coexist nicely.

In the Throat 13/15

I like this just fine. The exit is long and smooth with a nice chocolate fade. There is perhaps one last punch of boggy peat at the end which bodes well for the winter days ahead.

The Afterburn 8.5/10

I could not help, as I was sampling The Black Grouse, to think that the blend could be raised from being very good to outstanding with a little more time spent in the barrel. All of the elements are there in the whisky except for the character that only longer time in oak can provide. My suggestion for The Black Grouse is to enjoy it as a dram to visit perhaps a little less frequently than your regular whisky. Let yourself be surprised and delighted by the beguiling sweetness, and the chocolate charcoal fade. But don’t return so often that the whisky loses it special appeal.

You may read some of my other Whisky Reviews (click the link) if you wish to have some comparative reviews.

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Suggested Recipes

I avoided discussing the mixabilty of this whisky earlier and that may have been a mistake. As this is a whisky that handles cocktail expressions in an outstanding manner. At a friend’s suggestion, I made myself a Rusty Nail early in my tasting regimen. It was very tasty.

Rusty Nail

The official IBA formulation for the Rusty Nail is nine parts of Scotch Whisky to 5 parts of Drambuie.  This is a rather awkward formulation, so Instead I will suggest a simple 2:1  formulation:

2 oz Black Grouse Scotch Whisky
1 oz Drambuie
ice
lemon slice

First fill an 8 oz tumbler glass with crushed ice.
Add the Scotch Whisky and the Drambuie
Stir gently until a the outside of the glass frosts.
Garnish with a lemon slice.
Enjoy!

Since the whisky works so well with Drambuie, I decided to try Amaretto next.  The resulting Godfather I made was also a treat to my palate.  Again, I found that the subdued peat and smoke of the Black grouse combined well with the sweetness of the Amaretto. The only change I made to my version of the cocktail was to lessen the sweetness a bit by using a little more Scotch than Amaretto (The normal ratio is 1:1).

The Black Grouse Godfather

1 1/2 oz Black Grouse Scotch whisky
1 oz Amaretto
Ice cubes
Lemon Slice

Place 2 or 3 large ice-cubes into an old-fashioned glass
Pour the Black Grouse Whisky and the Amaretto over the ice
Sir gently
Garnish with a lemon slice

My last cocktail expression was another Whisky and Amaretto drink this time lengthened with Ginger ale and enhanced with bitters. I call it The Black Cove.

The Black Cove

1 1/2 oz Black Grouse Scotch whisky
1 oz Amaretto
Ice cubes
Dash of Angostura bitters
Ginger Ale
Lemon Slice

Place 2 or 3 large ice-cubes into a Collins glass
Pour the Black Grouse Whisky and the Amaretto over the ice
Add a dash or two of bitters
Sir gently
Lengthen with Ginger ale
Garnish with a lemon slice

Please enjoy these cocktails as well as the Black Grouse Whisky responsibly, the aim of my blog is to help your drink better spirits not to help you drink more spirits.

* My Thanks to the Folks at Beam Global who provided the sample for this review.

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As always you may interpret the scores I provide as follows.

0-25     A spirit with a rating this low would actually kill you.
26-49   Depending upon your fortitude you might actually survive this.
50 -59  You are safe to drink this…but you shouldn’t.
60-69   Substandard swill which you may offer to people you do not want to see again.
70-74   Now we have a fair mixing rum or whisky.  Accept this but make sure it is mixed into a cocktail.
75-79   You may begin to serve this to friends, again probably still cocktail territory.
80-84   We begin to enjoy this spirit neat or on the rocks. (I will still primarily mix cocktails)
85-89   Excellent for sipping or for mixing!
90-94   Definitely a primary sipping spirit, in fact you may want to hoard this for yourself.
95-97.5 The Cream of the Crop
98+        I haven’t met this bottle yet…but I want to.

Very loosely we may put my scores into terms that you may be more familiar with on a Gold, Silver, and  Bronze medal  scale as follows:

70 – 79.5    Bronze Medal (Recommended only as a mixer)
80 – 89.5     Silver Medal (Recommended for sipping and or a high quality mixer)
90 – 95         Gold Medal (Highly recommended for sipping and for sublime cocktails.)
95.5+            Platinum Award (Highest Recommendation)