Black Bottle Blended Scotch (Australasian Bottling)

Nose: Light orchard fruit, mainly apple. Ethanol, light malty notes and the vaguest possible hint of smoke. Rather thin. Palate: A light smooth arrival but little character overall. Faint sweet apple cider. When used as a mixer it becomes quite sweet. Finish: Short. The cidery note trails off into slight bitterness from the grain component. This blend of Black Bottle is only available in the Australasian/Pacific region. It is bottled in a clear green round bottle of a style that has been used before in the UK for this blend, however the current UK bottling has reverted to the original style flat-oval opaque black glass bottle. Be warned: This blend bears no resemblance to the UK blend. This is a light bodied, fruity whisky somewhat like Cutty Sark and while it is pleasant it has little to recommend it, and at AUD$50 a bottle it is overpriced. Every online site I have seen that stocks this has a description that has obviously been cut-and-pasted from an overseas site that carries the UK blend, which is completely misleading. I have even been to liquor shop whisky tastings where this has been brought out and described as a “highly peated” blend by folks who have obviously never tasted it. I have tried to no avail to find out exactly why this blend is sold in our local market exclusively, and more importantly why we do not get the standard Black Bottle blend (which is available universally through travel retail). “Adequate” : 70/100 (2 stars)