Today I continue my foray with something very different from anything I tried before. Forget categories and forget country of origin – if you want to try a whisky breaking away from conventions, look no further than the Woven Superblend I am reviewing today.
TL:DR: Doesn’t get more “blended“ than this. Intriguing, even at times puzzling, with some exuberant youth.
Vote*: 6,5 Between Good and Very Good stuff
In the world of spirits, whisky is firmly associated with the figurative character of your middle-aged, conservative-leaning, uncle. Friendly, with a good sense of humour and welcoming, but very much set in his ways. I can count on the fingers of one hand the producers I have come across who are trying to innovate. Given my limited experience, I am sure there is more, but the proportions are dramatically skewed towards tradition. So feel free to argue with me about this, and good luck convincing me of the contrary.
Enter Woven
Woven is a blending house based in Leith. Their declared mission is to disrupt what blended whisky is and instead look to what it could be. This is the gist of their message, and if it makes you curious to learn more, I do suggest you check out their manifesto.
I love the concept of experimenting and blending as a social connection for passionate whisky people. Likewise, I love the disruptive desire behind the idea. What I am less enamoured with is the seriousness and almost zealous tone of these messages. It might very much be a case of marketing agency messaging vs reality. The team behind Woven comes across as much more likeable and relaxed in their videos. I like to believe the more unfiltered format reflects the real spirit of this company.
One of the most intriguing projects Woven has released, from my point of view, is their Superblend. It combines whisky from Scotland (which makes up about 75% of the blend) with whiskies from England, Germany, the USA and Ireland. Such a blend could not be made in Scotland due to the restrictive SWA rules. To overcome these restrictions the whisky has to be blended in England. I can only imagine the legal hurdles necessary to get this over the line. Kudos for sticking with the idea. Let’s jump into the review of Woven Superblend and see if the idea translates into the experience.
Woven Superblend
Specs
Price paid: 35.78€ (500 ml)
Lot/bottled date: Batch 1
ABV: 46.1%
Natural colour: Not stated on either bottle or website.
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used/Blend Components: 34.77% (yes Woven is very precise on percentages!) Scottish single malts, 41.31% Scottish grain whisky, 23.90% Wold whisky (US, Germany, England and Ireland). The bulk of the components are relatively young, but there is some 22 YO grain whisky, 13 YO Irish and 11 YO bourbon. The full blend components are available from Woven’s web page.
Tasting notes
Colour: Old gold, is it caramel coloured or not? The Woven Superblend video mentions there is no added colour, but why not write it on the bottle or the website? I suspect the blend is not caramel coloured but some of the components might have some caramel added, which prevents Woven from claiming “natural colour”.
Nose: The first hit left me puzzled, hit by a citrusy and juniper-like note for a second, I wonder if I am smelling Gin, then I realise it reminds me of the smell of cypress cones. Quickly this aroma breaks down into elements which are more recognizable as whisky smells. There is lime peel, malt powder, coriander seeds and overripe pineapple. Then a pepper spice note that betrays the youth of the main spirit components, a touch of heather, caramel, cherry and marzipan. Then vanilla and fermented fruit funk, with an underlying resin note in the background.
Taste: On the palate, the first impression is peppery alcoholic heat. The heat lingers and masks other notes which only pop up once the burn subsides. There are more noticeable sherry notes (raisin, dates, chocolate). In the background, there are hints of coffee, yellow fruit, cherry, grapefruit and malted barley.
Finish: The finish luckily does not suffer from the spirit heat and is more traditional. Notes of lime and orange peel, caramel, a hint of coffee, and malt slowly give way to a herbal, tea-like, aftertaste.
Vote*: 6,5 Between Good and Very Good stuff. Certainly unusual and even puzzling at times, like the opening nose note which almost resembles a Gin. The score would be higher if the spirit heat would be less prominent on the palate.
*Votes are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points
Conclusions
Woven promises something unique with its Superblend, and after reviewing it I agree: it most certainly delivers. It is also a dram that can appeal to both newer and more experienced whisky drinkers. Catching some of the nuances is not immediate, and I did enjoy it more, the more time I spent with it. I discovered more layers and more complexity and started to recognise some of the contributions of the individual elements. The one aspect I liked less is that, even with some older components clearly contributing to the nose and taste, Superblend drinks a bit too hot for my taste, I suspect from the over 30% of 3-year young grain whisky in the blend.
Blends, price and competition
I am less of a fan of the 500 ml bottle and the price per volume might be a hurdle for some drinkers. I paid the equivalent of 50€ if I scale the price to a normal 700ml bottle. In the UK, Woven’s own web price translates to 63£ for 700 ml. Woven does explain why their blends are priced more, which essentially blends down to quality and availability. This is understandable. I am also sure that Superblend’s cost also needs to cover some of the legally motivated logistic loops this whisky has to jump through.
Yet, the competition at the price points above from single malts is fierce. I am left wondering if enough whisky-curious drinkers would make the leap of faith to go for a blend, as interesting as it may be. Hopefully, Woven will follow distilleries like Glasgow 1770 and upgrade the bottles to 700 ml keeping the price at current levels.
Personally, after this series of “new blends”, I have made up my mind that the world does not end with single (or even blended) malt. Good blends should not be relegated to a “cheap” whisky category, even though some (like TB/BSW, Maclean’s Nose) can offer a better price point than single malts of similar quality. I was tickled enough to decide and invest in one of Woven Experience series bottles, to be reviewed at some stage in the future.
I always find it interesting, after writing my tasting notes, to look at other opinions. Here are a few other reviews of the Woven Superblend I enjoyed:
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