Bell's Original

Very sharp, alcoholic aftertaste

Smokey

Nose: Light, generic sweet cereal, fruit and floral notes. There’s not much going on but also no glaring faults. There is a touch of rubbery low-grade cask aroma and an alcohol nip, but that’s not unusual in an inexpensive blend. If you add a few drops of water the vanilla blooms and becomes lightly floral. Palate: The arrival is soft and dominated by simple alcohol sweetness. There are subdued flavours of cereal, malt, fruit and a hint of smoke but it’s all very low-key and the sweetness of industrial grain whisky which is the foundation is never far away. There is a slightly hard metallic note also coming from the grain whisky, but it’s not horrible, just noticeable on the later palate. The texture is neutral. Finish: Short. The palate quickly dissipates leaving virtually no aftertaste. I have a weakness for whisky and Coke. It’s not that I like to dilute my whisky with Coke, but that I enjoy my Coke with added flavouring (some people like vanilla Coke, some like cherry Coke … I like whisky Coke). For this purpose I always have at least one bottle of supermarket-grade blended scotch in the drinks cabinet, and there are a couple of dozen brands I buy in rotation, one of which is Bells. There is a characteristic mild earthy smoke note to it that I don’t notice in many other affordable blends. It reminds me of what Teacher’s Highland Cream was like in the 1990s. Bell’s is one of the most affordable "distilled, blended and bottled in Scotland" blended scotches you can buy. It has no pretention to being a sipping whisky (although you can drink it neat without injury) and it is often dismissed by enthusiasts, but there are many worse whiskies you can buy at around that price. If you are on a tight budget Bell’s is an acceptable option, but plan to drink it over ice and with Coke, dry ginger ale or tonic water. “Adequate” : 73/100 (2.25 stars)