Whisky Review: Cutty Sark Blended Scotch

Introduction

This week on Film & Whiskey, we cracked open a bottle of Cutty Sark Blended Scotch Whisky, one of the most recognizable (and historically underrated) Scotch brands on the market. Named after the famous clipper ship that’s still tourable in England, Cutty Sark has been around since 1923, making it a staple of the affordable Scotch world. It’s a blended Scotch, bottled at 80 proof, and usually priced around $13–$15, making it a true budget contender.

We weren’t sure what to expect from this one. Bob had a bottle sitting around for about a year and offloaded half to Brad, which is usually a sign that expectations are low. But what we found inside that unmistakable green bottle genuinely surprised us.

This review is taken from our episode "If Beale Street Could Talk / Cutty Sark." Click the link to listen to this review in audio format.

Nose

Brad: The overarching note of this nose is that it is young and pungent. It stings the nostrils, if you will. But once you get beyond that, there's a little bit of vanilla, some honey, a tiny bit of citrus. Honestly, it's not an unpleasant nose. I gave it 6.5/10.

Bob: It's decent. Here’s how I would describe this: it is an aggressive Irish whiskey on the nose. It has all of those sweet honeydew and cantaloupe and a little bit of peach notes that we get on Irish whiskeys. And then it's just like, “what if we added three drops of unleaded gasoline?” I know that sounds horrible—please don’t drink that—but it’s not an unpleasant nose. Especially at 80 proof, this has a lot more going on than I anticipated. I'm actually going to give this 7.5/10.

Taste

Brad: It is very, very watery. Quite bland. There's some nice bits of honey and vanilla going on in there. I'm going to give it 5/10. It tastes fine. It is decently pleasant. I don't mind this at all.

Bob: Wow. Is this going to be the Canadian Mist of Season 5? It’s a little aggressive. Like if you plopped this in front of me blind and I was under the assumption it was a $40 whiskey, I think I would have some more negative connotations attached to it. But those melon notes are really carrying through for me. I like it a lot, especially on the front of my palate. The mid-palate gets a little malty and has a little bit of that gasoline thing going on, but it never really takes over. And I expected those really astringent, awful notes to take over—and they didn’t. That’s really to the credit of this blend. Once again, I’ll give it a 7.5/10 on the taste.

Finish

Brad: The finish is where it kind of struggles. It’s short. It's slightly bitter. You start to lose some of those melon flavors from the mid-palate. I'll give it a 5/10.

Bob: It takes on a little bit of cigar ash for me on the finish. But besides that, it reminds me a lot of some of the Speysides we’ve had. In researching this brand, I guess the bulk of what is blended into this comes from the Speyside region. This fits right in with that. Is it a little less eloquent than its brethren? Probably. But I don’t mind this at all. I’m going to give it a 6.5/10.

Balance

Brad: This honestly just offers a consistently just-below-average experience. From start to finish, it's just barely below average—and that's pretty impressive. I’ll give it a 6.5/10 on balance.

Bob: I’m going to give it an 8/10 on balance for the exact same reason. Brad, if I told you that you could have a $30 bottle of blended Scotch that is average across the board, you’d be like, “all right, that sounds about right.” And this is like $10 or $12 and it's just barely below average. That’s more impressive to me than getting average at $15 higher.

Value

Brad: In the state of Ohio, it's mostly out of stock, but it's on sale for $8.35. The one-liter is $22.99. Let’s say $15 for a fifth. I think that it’s just really not a bad whiskey for $15. I’ll give it a 9.5/10 on value, Bob.

Bob: I got this bottle during one of OHLQ’s “Last Call” sales, and it was marked down to $9. But even at the normal price point, I think this is a really good $15 bottle of whiskey. In the world of Scotch, the only thing I can think of at this price point that competes is Heaven Hill Green Label, which I can’t even get in Ohio. I’d probably prefer this over Rebel, even. I’m going to give it an 8/10 on value.

Final Scores

Brad: 32.5/50
Bob: 37.5/50
Average: 35/50

Conclusion

That average score of 35/50 puts Cutty Sark right at our threshold for a "buy." And in this case, we’re not just talking about a bar pour—buy a bottle. It’s $15. If you don’t like it, make a Rob Roy. There’s no downside here. This one surprised both of us in the best way.

Got a whiskey-loving friend who scoffs at blends or budget Scotch? Pour them a glass of Cutty Sark, don’t tell them what it is, and enjoy the smug satisfaction of watching them be proven wrong.