Whyte & Mackay Light

Nose: Very light sherry, malt, a wisp of ashy smoke and a few other generic scotch whisky aromas. It smells like a very cheap blended scotch. Palate: Thin, watery and completely gutless. There is a sense that it is developing some sweetness at one point but then it veers into ever-so-slightly metallic territory ... and then just collapses. It’s so thin it doesn’t even have the strength to be offensive, and the texture is more like anti-texture, if such a thing could exist. It actually feels hollow and empty. Water is more satisfying. Finish: As fast as The Flash. There is no finish or aftertaste at all. This anaemic dishwater is a pointless waste of time and effort. I feel insulted by the producer and annoyed with myself for buying it, and I'm outraged that time, energy, glass, paper, ink, metal and plastic were wasted in the process of bottling it. This stuff is not whisky, it is a 21.5% whisky-based “spirit drink” that is supposedly composed of scotch whisky and sherry (so says the label). However it would be more accurate to describe it as distilled water with a splash of bottom-shelf blended scotch and a half-teaspoon of indifferent sherry added. I had expected it to be sweet, or maybe nutty, with both sherry and whisky showing through but what it actually tastes like is blended scotch diluted with far, far too much water. You can barely even detect the alcohol content. I can’t fathom how this stuff came to be made, or what insanity possessed the marketing team who thought it would be a good idea. Is it a misguided attempt to make a brown-spirit alco-pop to lure teenagers away from vodka cruisers? Fail. Now here’s the real kicker – in Australia this sells for $37.00. That’s $1.72 for every 1% of alcohol it contains (and remember excise duty is the vast majority of the cost of any bottle of whisky). That means it is equivalent to paying $68.80 for a bottle of 40% abv blended scotch. Johnnie Walker Red is leaps and bounds better than this stuff, costs just $40, and then you can cut it with water, soda or Coke to 20% strength and STILL get a way better drink. The Scottish whisky industry has recently been threatened with wide-reaching bans on advertising that could negatively impact distilleries, particularly newer ones. The rationale for this is all about curbing alcohol abuse, particularly among younger consumers, and unfortunately it is insipid, rip-off supermarket swill like this that is most to blame for driving that situation. Do not go near this stuff. “Very Poor” : 55/100 (0.5 stars)