The Woodsman Blended Scotch

 

Once in a while I see something new, mostly online, something I’ve never heard about before, and I buy. Sometimes I don’t know why. I think it’s pure curiosity and I have the soul of a scientist after all. I like to try new things, and then I have an opportunity to write about them. The Woodsman Blended Scotch is a perfect example of it.


I saw it on Amazon, searching for whisky to buy. This time my goal was to get some Japanese stuff, and actually I already had Tenjaku and Hatozaki in my shopping basket. I’m not a very superstitious man, well, I have my “things”, like almost every human being. You know what I’m talking about. Things like cupboard doors always shut with nothing sticking out, eating scrambled eggs with one particular spoon (I wouldn’t eat my scrambled eggs with any other spoon) or... I never buy just two things, if it’s not absolutely necessary. I mean, you don’t go on a date with two flowers, the option is one or at least three. Three is not a magic number for me, but two just doesn't sound right in my head, Simple like that. I was just looking for another whisky, as I couldn’t just buy two bottles. The obvious choice for me was to fill the gap with Bushmills or Tamnavulin, but all of a sudden I saw The Woodsman. It was the first time in my life I have heard the name.
I had to have it, and down there, deep in my guts I knew, there would be nothing special about it. I was right. 

There’s absolutely nothing special about The Woodsman. I don’t have any story behind it, and I’m quite sure it’s creators also don’t have anything to back it up. The trouble is, it’s not even that bad. It’s just boring. You know it’s whisky, because it smells like whisky, and tastes like whisky, so even a blind person cannot confuse it with something else. When you smell it, you can get a very distant aroma of fruits and some oak, but that’s it. When you drink it, you get oak, definitely, and that’s it. Good advice: don’t use a snifter, or you will get a punch of alcohol straight up your nose and piercing right through your brain.

The Woodsman is not horrible stuff, but there is no particular reason to drink it. It’s on the level of cheap blends, like Grant’s or Famous Grouse, and below Black Label and Chivas Regal. I’ve tried it, I’ve shared my opinion, and there is no point for me to buy it again.

I’ve learned from Masters of Malt that The Woodsman comes from the owners of Dalmore, Fettercairn, Jura and Tamnavulin, and it's designed for use in cocktails and mixed drinks. Shame for the first, but couldn’t agree more with the second.

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