For most whiskey drinkers, single malts are king. However, Brendon Coyle is out to prove them wrong. The master distiller at High West Distillery near Park City, Utah, is looking to change the common perception that blended whiskeys are inferior to single malts. In fact, Scottish distillers have the inveterate tradition of sharing their products with one another to achieve their unique flavor profiles.
Coyle tells Quartz‘s Ethan Fixell that he’s proud of High West’s history as a blender of whiskey, because it’s just smart business. Only six years old, High West would have had to wait until this year for their first batch of whiskey to go to market. Instead, they chose the blended route right after opening and aimed for perfection. That might be harder than it seems, notes Fixell:
“Blending can be an incredibly nuanced science. Beyond the flavor active components in each distillate’s recipe, Coyle also must pay attention to various factors that affect maturation, including humidity, temperature, location, and barrel type. And he must understand the synergistic reactions of combining each of these barrels before pouring them together to achieve a specific flavor profile in a final product.”
Read the full story on Quartz here. To learn more on the science of blending whiskey, watch the video featuring Jameson’s master blender below.
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