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Wednesday, March 21, 2012

NOT Single Malt Report: Black & White Blended Scotch Whisky

The Personal Classics, Part 1:  Black & White

Original Producer: James Buchanan & Sons
Current Owner: Diaego (they don't even show it on their site)
Brand: Black & White (no brand website)
Type: Blended Scotch Whiskey
Age: minimum 3 years
Alcohol by Volume: 40%

This the first in a small series of Reports covering whiskies that are of historical import to me.  These are the whiskies that that greatly influenced my whisky love.  And I'm starting with the rarely seen (in the US), but always cheap, Black & White.



Personal History
In mid-October 2002, I left my job at a talent agency, took a bunch of cash I'd saved up and headed east towards the British Isles.  I spent over three weeks wandering across Ireland and Scotland, staying in cheap hostels, walking five or six miles a day, soaking up the rain, coming to terms with my failures as a human being, embracing being lost, and drinking copiously with hostel-mates from around the world.  I also ran up a credit card debt that took three years to pay off.

It was the loveliest three weeks of my life.  Not only did I sort through considerable personal issues, but I developed an internal connection with Ireland and Scotland that has never left me.

At that point my Scotch drinking had been minimal.  I drank all sorts of stupid stuff in college, but I had enjoyed the Scotch that my cousin Jon had introduced me to a few years before.  Otherwise, there was a lot of vodka shooting in my then recent past.

My brother was working in Dublin at the time for the Irish government.  Perhaps that influenced me to travel that direction, I really don't remember the full reasoning.  But I stayed at his place in Dun Laoghaire for a few nights at the start.  Then we met up at Killarney National Park (Ireland) for a couple of days.  Also staying at the cheap Killarney hotel was a NUTTY Scot, John, that I'd just hung out with in Galway.

One night the three of us headed down to the hotel pub for a drink.  I asked John what working folks drank where he came from.  He surveyed the whisky bottles and ordered me a Black & White on the rocks.  I continued to drink Black & White throughout the trip, in between gallons of stout.

When I returned to The States, Black & White was nowhere to be found.  I once found a big ol' 1.75liter handle of it in a liquor store in Maryland in '06, but then it was gone the next time I went back.  Then, this past December, I spotted a caseload of 1 liter Black & White bottles sitting high on a shelf at Mission Liquor in Pasadena.  I bought a bottle of this old friend for the new year.


Whisky History
There's very little information about this blend online and the little that can be found is debatable.  For instance, Wikipedia says that it's not available in the UK.  It certainly was when I was there, plus one can find Scots reviewing it online.  What does seem to line up is this:

James Buchanan created this blend (called then Buchanan's Blend) in the early 1880s and through a level of influence obtained the contract to supply the House of Commons bar.  It became the only scotch blend they served there, thus it became known as Buchanan's House of Commons Scotch Whisky.

That contract wasn't going to last forever, so Buchanan started selling it at public grocers.  People knew the whisky by its black bottle and white label, thus he labelled it Black & White.  In the 1890s, Buchanan added the Black & White Highland terriers to the label to create a recognizable logo.  One hundred twenty years later, those dogs are still on every bottle.



The Whisky
Most blended scotch whiskies contain 30-40% malt and 60-70% grain whisky.  The cheaper ones tend to have more grain, the pricier ones have more malt (and they usually advertise that element).

Black & White falls on the much lower end of that scale.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if there was less than 30% malt in it, as the grain whisky is so prevalent in its nose and palate.

I'll admit some level of disappointment when I poured my first neat glass of this in January.  It was extremely difficult on first nose and taste.  Instantly, I realized that I'd always had it on the rocks nine years ago.  All the cold and water tampers down the rough young cheapy grains.

What a sensitive little American you have become.
Shut it.

First, let's drink it neat.  The color is a hay-like light amber.  The nose is sickly sweet at first, bourbony, musky, fleshy, and ultimately quite like old vinegar.  The palate is heavily grainy, salty, has lots of smoked cardboard, no sherry, just bourbon, with a creamy texture.  The finish is "gross then gone" at first, then later the grains and vanilla show up upon further sips.

With water, I lowered the ABV to about 31%.  The nose shouts "harsh cheap whisky", pencil lead, sour, oaky, damp cardboard.  Plastic bottle Bourbon is strong on the palate, followed by some dried fruit sweetness, and some rotten cream.  The finish still brings a little heat before it fizzles, leaving behind something quite like chlorine.

Sounds palatable, huh?

Actually, it's not bad in a highball, as it's been my whisky & soda choice for two months.  The soda water curbs all of that vinegar and cardboard while bringing out a pleasant sweetness.  So I recommend it that way.  Try two parts soda to one part Black & White for your first one, then tinker with it from there.

Yes, this was tough at first, but the highball saved it for me.  Will I buy Black & White again?  Maybe, but not if I'm trying to recapture the romance of the past.

Pricing - Good at $20-$25 (for a liter!)
Rating - 73

22 comments:

  1. I picked up a bottle just for nostalgia. In the 50's and 60's this was a very popular entry level blended scotch in the USA. It was handled by the Fleischmann Distilling Corp., probably to give a little air of quality to their otherwise bottom shelf line. In 2013 it's still very hard to find in stores- with better scotch blends available for under $15.00 a bottle it's outclassed by several brands.

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    1. Hey Eric, thanks for the comment! Like the rest of the old blends, the quality on Black & White has likely dropped considerably since its heyday. But, I'd still take it over JW Red, Dewars White, Black Bottle, and Cutty Sark any day. Though that is faint praise. In my corner of the woods, it's actually easier to find 1.75L bottles of it than the 1L bottles.

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  2. Cutty Sark is just flat out terrible. Tried that the other day and I was not impressed. I do have a vintage Black & White bottle from the 50's I need to open one day.

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    1. Thanks for your comment! Cutty is oh so horrible in its current form. I've had $9-plastic-bottle blends that taste and nose better. The only way I'll ever try it again is via an old dusty. I've spied a couple bottles from the '80s but I'm not sure if that's going back far enough.

      From what I've heard, Black & White used to be dynamite stuff in the '50s and '60s. I hope your bottle is great!

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  3. While I like single malts a lot and am partial to the Islays, Black and White is to me the best-tasting blended whisky. It doesn't burn the back of my mouth or leave me with the feeling that I've just sterilised my teeth and tongue. Finding it is not easy; nearby liquor stores that stock it (and that I visit) have just dropped from three to two. Price here in MN is currently $19 or $20 per liter.

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    1. That's a great price for it. It is better than almost every blend in its price range, and better than some more expensive options (JW Red and Dewars 12). For me, it works best as a highball.

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  4. A friend just came across a bottle of Black and White in her grandmother's belongings. Has a snap-cap which dates it to 50's. She's not sure whether to drink it or sell it.

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    1. Hey Scott. That's a sweet find! If she's in the US, it's much more difficult to sell it than in Europe. And usually blends don't bring the biggest prices in auctions. On the other hand, The Whisky Exchange has priced their '50s B&W in the $300-$400 range. Personally, I would drink the find! :)

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  5. Thanks for sharing your review. Picked one up at Bangladesh airport for $12, read this, then changed it for one of the many other brands at the same price.

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    1. Thanks for your comment. $12 is a good price for it, but you'd still be paying $12 for blah whisky. Hope you picked up something good!

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  6. My wife loves B&W and on a trip to Sarasota we found a liquor store 2 minutes from our rental home that had 50 large bottles in stock. We bought 2 and when we returned this winter to the same area, the store had closed. Wonder where his stock went.

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    1. 50 bottles! They must have had Florida's entire stock. I've been finding Black & White in very random corner liquor stores. I always wonder how and why the distributor plopped those bottles there specifically.

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  7. I enjoy Black & White. If you want to try a decent blended scotch, try Grant's Family Reserve. It has a little bit of everthing. It's fairly smooth. It's my go to here in NJ. ($14.99 USD)

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    1. Hi Mark. Yeah, I had Grant's a couple years ago and was surprised by its quality. The Trader Joe's stores out here (California) have it for about that price too.

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  8. About 13 years ago, friends of friends were moving and had a sale/giveaway. There were cases upon cases of liquor. I took a hinged cap bottle of Black and White. Opened it a couple years ago. Smoothest, lovely Scotch!
    Perhaps aging for over 50 years mellowed the blend?

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    1. Hey Anon! I've heard the old Black & Whites used to be (or are now) very good. I just missed getting a bottle from the '70s. I'm glad your bottle is good!

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  9. I am drinkng a 1.75L of Black and white as we speak. A store here local has been carrying it for a friend of theirs for many years as it is his personal favorite. I tried it because at 40$ for the 1.75 it is much cheaper than my usual choices and I have to say it tastes like it should be much cheaper because other than the glen livet like smokiness it has there are few redeeming qualities I find. I only drink my scotch neat in tumblers. for the price it is fine, but i wish I had stuck with a Dimple Pinch, Glen Livet 12 year, or hell even kilbeggans. however I pay 38$ for a fifth of Dimple Pinch so this is quite a value if i can finish it!

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    1. Ah the challenge of a 1.75L! You might need to work out some cocktails or highballs or maybe just pawn it off on visitors. I haven't tried Pinch in a few years, but I used to like it. I'd probably go with Kilbeggan before Black & White too.

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  10. Have you tried Ballantines? It's my favorite $20 bottle of Scotch that is available pretty much anywhere in the US.

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    1. Hi soosh, thanks for your comment! I haven't had Ballantine's in a few years, but I do plan on doing a review of the current version sometime in 2016 since I have an old version to compare it to.

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  11. Hi Michael,
    Enjoyed your blog on Black 7 White. I recently had the pleasure of uncovering a 25 year old bottle of the stuff hidden in an office at work. It proved very pleasant to drink - not that I was expecting much from a basic blend - but not as rough as I thought. I've written about it in a blog at; https://westmeathwhiskeyworld.wordpress.com/2015/08/28/black-white-golden-dram/
    Slainte

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    1. Thanks Westmeathwhiskey! I liked your post. That was a great find!

      I've found older blends to be much better than their current versions. I doubt if there's ever been a moment in whisky history when less malt was being used in blends than is going on now. Plus the subtle usage of peat seems to have been more regularly utilized. And better sherry casks, etc. All older blends aren't necessarily good, but the odds of better quality are decent. I hope you're enjoying the rest of the bottle!

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