A few years ago my wife and I went on a road trip through Scotland, passing through the picturesque highlands, glens, and, most memorably, the extinct supervolcano at Glen Coe. It was green, lush, mountainous and pristine, which was basically everything I imagined Scotland would be. One thing that reminds me of that Scottish road trip is the imagery and design on a bottle of Pure Scot scotch whisky. With its shades of green in the shape of mountains and mirroring a blue loch, the bottle design makes me thirsty for Scotch. Lucky for me I happen to have a few samples of Pure Scot on hand!
Pure Scot is a blended Scotch whisky which combines Bladnoch single malt with grain whiskies and a selection of island, highland and speyside malts. At its price, it is (surprisingly) very good and punches well above it weight. The whisky smells of toffee, tropical fruit, grain and cut grass. It tastes great, too – bitey, with a nice mix of sweet orchard fruit, syrupy caramel, vanilla, soft smoke and spice. The finish is chocolaty, mildly spicy, and warming. This sure is a sweet and syrupy Scotch.
Served neat the whisky is easy-drinking and enjoyable, but it is at its best on ice or mixed with cola. Pure Scot kindly sent me a pre-mixed drink of Pure Scot Virgin Oak and Smoked Cola, and this combination worked extremely well together. The mixer itself had a nice strong kick of Scotch, the smokiness was subtle and the cola was syrupy sweet, which complimented Pure Scot’s profile and the virgin oak influence (which tends to be sweet and “bourbony”). It is a fun mixer that is easy to drink and perfect with a barbecue.
Overall I think Pure Scot is a great value blended Scotch whisky which, befitting of its lovely bottle design, offers a nice tour of Scottish whisky with its mix of grain whisky and malts from the islands, highlands and speyside regions of Scotland. I would however love to see an age statement on the bottle, just so I know a little more about what I am drinking.
