Single or blended whisky? What’s in an age? Hong Kong expert distils myths

“It’s more complex than that. Even the difference between a 10-year-old and an 11-year-old is worlds different depending on the cask, the label and where it’s from.”

The second is the perception of single malt whiskies being superior to blended – a combination of two or more types of whiskies, which can even be from different distilleries.

“Johnnie Walker, Shinshu, Ballantine’s, these are blended whiskies. [By law], you have to use the word ‘blended’ when it is, but when people see the word ‘single’, they think that’s better.

“That’s why when I do tastings, I’ll have four or five samples of whisky with one of them blended. I let the participants do a blind taste test, and the funny thing is, when I ask them which one their favourite is, people almost always pick the blended one.