One of those great ideas from the marketing boys that has potential disaster written all over it... think New Coke. Take the much loved Famous Grouse blend and beef it up with smokey, peaty Islay malts to create the Black Grouse. Well in this case kudos to the marketing boys. The nose of course has the peat smoke but also the Famous Grouse honey sweetness and a hint of chocolate. The taste is exactly what you would expect, honey sweet and then peat smoke, but well balanced and restrained enough to avoid drowning the honey. There are also some rich notes, I susepct they beefed up the malts in this blend to stand up to the peat. Balanced and very good value (I paid $24 in duty free for 1L).
