Single malts might have grabbed all the headlines in recent years, but there’s a growing feeling that there are two whisky categories that have been somewhat neglected but whose time will eventually come. And I’m starting to get the feeling that that time really isn’t that far away at all.

The first is grain whisky. Grain whisky is made in a totally different way to single malt whisky, on continuous stills which extract high strength alcohol by forcing grain beer against pressurised steam in large columns. It is the whisky which is mixed with single malts to make blended whisky, and it has had limited success on its own.

That’s partly because it has unfairly earned a reputation for being bland an uninteresting. But there are many examples where its sweet and vanillery components make for a delightfully refreshing alternative to single malt, and more than that, there are grain whiskies which are world class.

Indeed its biggest weakness can be its biggest strength. On the down side, grain whisky does not have as much flavour as single malt when it is first made.  – but the upside of this is that it is a blank canvas and if you put it in a high quality cask and leave it for long enough, all sorts of magic happens. Leave it for in excess of 30 years and it’s capable of developing the bourbony characteristics of the American oak bourbon cask but combining them with distinctly Scottish notes.

I’m fortunate enough to have tried a 50 year old grain whisky, and it is stunning example of what grain can be about.  Independent bottler Mahesh Patel is so convinced by grain that two aged grains from the 1960s form part of his four whisky Sirius range..

I think these sort of releases will become more common in the coming months as distillers look to new areas as they try to meet the huge demand for whisky worldwide and people discover the joys of aged grain. Grain also tends in general to be less expensive than single malt whisky, so it provides a great opportunity to taste genuinely old whisky.

The other category which is growing and set to stir the excitement is blended malt whiskies – and there’s an irony in this because blended malts are different to blended whisky because they don’t use grain. In the right hands they offer the opportunity to create something genuinely new taste-wise while moving away from traditional whisky imagery and packaging.

There are some real crackers around. Peat Monster and Spice Tree from Compass Box are blended malts, the Double Barrel range from Douglas Laing bring together malts from just two distilleries, and Clan Denny Islay and Speyside do exactly what they say on the tin, bringing together the best flavours for each region from a range of distilleries. And don’t forget The Big Peat, a surefire winner with Whisky Shop customers for nigh on two years now.

Exciting stuff – and absolute proof that  there’s always something new to excite the palate.

Dom’s weekly round up of the highlights from the world of whisky

Top drawer

The Whisky Shop has had an excellent working relationship with The Dalmore in the last two years, and the Highland whisky has risen from nowhere to a top selling whisky across the whole Whisky Shop estate.

Brand owner Whyte & Mackay’s other main malt, Isle of Jura, is also a a popular choice among Whisky Shop customers. So it comes as no real surprise to hear how well both malts are doing.  So well in fact that the Dalmore is now officially the world’s fastest growing single malt, according to new figures from leading research analysts IWSR.

The data reveals that the Dalmore is currently the fasting growing malt year on year with value growth of 69 per cent, taking over from Whyte & Mackay’s other single malt brand Jura which is now the second fastest growing malt in the world with value growth of 56 per cent. The phenomenal performance of the two brands compares with average growth of only 12 per cent across the top 25 malt brands globally – which in itself is pretty impressive.

Commenting on the figures, John Beard, Chief Executive of Whyte and Mackay said: “The global whisky market is continuing to experience a significant boom in sales and, within the malt category, competition is fierce to capitalise on this growth. So it’s testament to the hard work of our staff and the consistent quality of product that both of our malt brands are growing faster than any others out there. The Dalmore, in particular, is performing extremely well in this market and we are experiencing a growing demand from the world’s top retailers.”

Great news for a great whisky.

Denny does it every time

If you haven’t tried Clan Denny, then you should. Clan Denny Speyside and Islay are blended malts – a mixture of malts from different distilleries – and they do exactly what they say on the tin, offering the drinker the definitive experience for each regain. I don’t know who’s putting these whiskies together but they have always been good and the latest sample of Clan Denny Islay is the best yet – rich, smoky, peaty, sweet and full bodied.

I’ve been drinking a lot of classic Laphroaig and Ardbeg recently – never a struggle, certainly not a chore for me – and Clan Denny Islay matches up favourably even in this superlative company.

Congratulations Spain and Italy

There are many people who feel that the last two weeks of European football have been a disappointment  but I’m not among them. I’ve loved every moment of the tournament – well most: I’m English – and I’ll miss the nightly pre match ritual of loud rock music and a good whisky before sitting down to invariably choose to support the team which goes on to lose.

I’ve had some great whisky moments over the last two weeks – Redbreast 12 year old before the Ireland games (in one of which a player from my team Leicester City scored a goal), Glen Garioch before German games (don’t ask me why), Glenfarclas before Spain matches (sherry casks, you see), Glenlivet 15 year old before any of the Eastern European countries played and Laphroaig before England’s matches.

I had to listen to the England v Sweden game in the back of a car with John Glaser so rather than drink Mackmyra that win will be associated with Compass Box Spice Tree, though that whisky was my regular choice for Italy matches. Happy days…

But congratulations to Spain and Italy, who reached the final on merit. I love both countries – we have holidayed in either one of them practically every year since we had children 14 years ago – so my loyalties are split.

I’ll make a decision after a Glenfarclas and Spice Tree on Sunday evening. God help whoever I decide to root for.

Twenty four hours to Brighton: a  tour report…

They say that the darkest hour comes just before the dawn, and at this moment, I’m not arguing.

In Scotland at this time of the year dawn comes before 5am, and when I wake in a car on a street in Edinburgh at four, it’s pitch black save for a street light, rain taps a steady rhythm on the roof, my arm aches and I feel drained.

Inside the car with me are John Glaser from Compass Box,  and Andrew Torrance and David Whyte from the Whisky Shop, all asleep. We’re four hours in to our world record attempt, we’re exhausted, and we haven’t even done our second tasting yet. We all knew that we would hit a wall around four o’clock – it’s just we thought it would be four in the afternoon, not four in the morning. A dark hour indeed.

I think in those moments – tired, hungry, cold and disorientated – I mentally gave up for a few minutes. Eight tastings in eight towns and cities over nearly 700 miles in 24 hours? Sod that. How about breakfast in Edinburgh and a train home?

A few short minutes later John strolls in to the Victoria Street branch of The Whisky Shop to a rousing reception of party poppers, sparklers and an underwhelming recording of Eye Of The Tiger. The shop is full and John’s smile cuts through the dreachy early morning hour. This is to be a highlight of the day for John, and the moment kicks the early morning blues firmly back in to the shadows. Suddenly our world record attempt is back on track.

Half an hour later we set off again for Newcastle, leaving the hardy whisky folk of Scotland’s capital and a few Malt Maniacs to their dawn party. We hear later on the way to York that they finally leave the shop some two and half hours later.

We never look back. Our attempt to travel from Inverness to Brighton holding eight tastings in one day is a slice of madness and I learn en route that dragging an American and an Englishman across Britain in pursuit of a world record is actually a Scottish vanity project. Somewhere during the journey – on the road from York to Birmingham I seem to remember – Mark Gillespie from Whisky Cast interviews us by phone and Andrew Torrance explains how the idea of a world record attempt came about:

“I heard someone talking about the world’s biggest whisky tasting and I felt that it was a record that should be held by Scotland but it wasn’t,” he explains. “I got to thinking and had the idea that if we couldn’t do the biggest we should do the most, so that’s how it developed.”

And not just the most – but the longest. So here we are.

In order to attempt the record for Scotland John and I have to travel nine hours by train to Inverness, where at 12.01am we hold the first of the eight tastings. Each will have a different theme, but each will be based around three core Compass Box whiskies -  the award winning and highly palatable Great King Street blend, the feisty Peat Monster and personal favourite The Spice Tree.

The first tasting goes well but two miles out of Inverness David and Andrew realise they have left the Red Cross charity collection box behind and David is concerned his bag with laptop and passport – Andrew and David are to fly back from Gatwick tomorrow – are also left behind. This isn’t a great start.

It transpires he hasn’t left it, so we’re properly up and running.

Gateshead Metro centre is quiet for breakfast, but kippers and haggis for whisky pairing are on offer. All fine until John insists on bringing kippers back to the car as we head off towards York. The smell is overwhelming and we can only muse as to how fruity the vehicle will be by Brighton.

I don’t drive but as I understand it, to power a car a long way you need petrol. As we leave Gateshead  it seems we haven’t got any. We’re not just running low, we’re running on empty. We abandon the A1, call on the support car to track us and search for a garage.

Thankfully we find one immediately which is just as well because if we had run out of fuel John’s plan isn’t to use the support car to get some petrol, it’s for me and him to abandon David and Andrew an head off to York in the second vehicle. Hey, this man is driven – literally- and focused on just one goal.

Amazingly this turns out to be pretty much the day’s last hitch and David and Andrew, responsible for the driving while we drink our way south, play a blinder. To York (blending school) through to Birmingham (the importance of oak) to Oxford (cheese, fish and cake matching) and on to London (cocktails) we are operating to a tight schedule but we stay to it, even dealing with heavy traffic in England’s two biggest cities.

By mid afternoon, with a steady intake of Compass Box whisky on my part, some great in-vehicle banter and a growing belief that we are going to achieve our goal, the mood is buoyant. To be fair, it has been pretty good throughout. We’ve bonded in to a team and any potential pitfalls – David’s musical selections, for instance – have been parked at the side of the road.

Our tastings are short, sharp and to the point, and the journey becomes a bit of a blur. But there is just enough time to catch up with some old friends en route and to maker some new ones, and as we enter the capital the event is turning in to a  victory procession.

London is a blast. There’s a good turnout, we listen to England beat Sweden on the radio, we’re on schedule to achieve our goal, and the tiredness has been banished in to the night as darkness falls.

And we reach Brighton almost exactly at the planned finishing time of 11.30pm for a small but appropriate celebratory ending and a healthy glass of the Last Vatted Malt. John’s special bottling to mark last year’s law change banning the terri ‘vatted malt’ to history.

So we did it…eight tastings for more than 130 people in eight Whisky Shops in one long but highly enjoyable day.  As Andrew likes to put it, impossible is nothing, and a bizarre going marketing project between The Whisky Shop and Compass Box has become a bizarre reality.

Earlier Martk Gillespie had asked the question which firmly summed it all up: are you mad, he’d asked?

Probably. But the world of whisky has never seen anything like this. And worryingly, they’re already asking about what happens next.

It’s enough to make a man turn to drink…