Cutty Sark 12 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky

A nod to the ship's many anchor points.

Cutty Sark has been around a long time… since 1923. But they are a Whisky produced by The Edrington Group, which has been around in various forms since 1850 and is owned by the Robertson family. Why do you care? Because they make a LOT of Whisky, including perennial Single-malt favorite The Macallan, The Famous Grouse, and Highland Park for goodness sake! They also own Brugal, which is the leading golden Rum in the Caribbean, and Snow Leopard Vodka. The Edrington Group are not one of the super-giant-behemoths, but there is some serious skill in their bottles.

Cutty Sark produces a wide range of blended Whiskies that have formed the core of back-bars for decades. The Whisky gets its name from the ship — The Cutty Sark — which was one of the last and fastest sailing cargo ships ever made. And it was built just a few miles from the distillery about the time the Robertson's started distilling near Glasgow, Scotland. The ship, in turn, was named after… ahem… a scantily-clad character in Robert Burn’s famous poem, "Tam ‘o Shanter." In fact, "cutty-sark" roughly translates to "short skirt" in the local vernacular. Hot chicks, fast ships, and Whisky… some things never change. A carving of the fetching and bewitching lass was carved into the bow of the ship.

Cutty Sark 12 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky was aged for more than 12 years in hand-picked ex-Bourbon and ex-Sherry oak barrels. Then, the juices are married and filtered at a higher temperature, which means the smoother flavors prevail. Stephen Woodcock, Cutty Sark’s master blender, says this offering brings to the table lots of dried and tropical fruits, spice, cloves, ginger, and a subtle hint of sea salt. I guess that’s its way of nodding to the ship’s many anchor points and its long, proud maritime history.