A Scot on Scotch reviews Woven Homemade Blended Scotch Whisky…
Blending Without Borders
Woven Whisky is a new blending house based in the city of Edinburgh. It was started in 2020 by three friends, Duncan McRae, Peter Allison, and Nick Ravenhall. The three men set out to create original, contemporary whiskies that would showcase the best of the modern whisky world.
Woven is based in Leith, an area with a long and storied connection to Scotch whisky. Leith was once a centre of blending and bottling, with approximately 100 bonded warehouses located in the area. It was home to the (in)famous Pattison Brothers, and the Scotch Malt Whisky Society still runs its operation from the Vaults on Giles St. Even Woven’s own headquarters are based in an old biscuit factory that stands opposite the former Bonnington distillery site.
For the Woven team, blended whisky should be about creativity first and foremost. They believe whisky blending is an exploration of the flavours that can be developed by combining spirits from distilleries across Scotland, and beyond. While Woven are Scotland-based, they’re happy to source good quality whisky wherever it can be found. They call it blending without borders.
Woven Whisky
Woven’s core release is their “house blend”, a whisky made by combining three distinct styles: corn, wheat and single malt. Their Pure Malt expression features five single malts from Speyside, combined with spirit from Taiwan, Australia, and India. Superblend, meanwhile, is a blend of Scotch, with English, German, American, and Irish whiskies. The subject of this review, however, is Homemade, a dram that takes inspiration from the iconic blends that once earned Leith’s reputation as a hub for whisky and wine merchants.
Homemade has a high malt content – more than 70% of the recipe consists of two Speyside malts, with the other 28% being a lowland grain. This all-Scotch recipe makes Handmade the most traditional of Woven’s output to date.
Woven Homemade Review
Tasting Notes: The nose is full of toasted oak, toffee, and honey. There’s a touch of rye bread and some subtle sherry notes with nuttiness and spice. It arrives on the palate with a bit of woody spice and sweet honey. There’s orange zest and a dry, oak tannin finish. A splash of water brought out some fruitiness, especially tinned fruits, like melon and pineapple.
Thoughts: My pour was a wee bit closed at first, although it was a very cold day, so perhaps that’s to be expected. As it opened, however, the dram found a better balance and started to show really well. Balance might be the keyword here, in fact. There’s nothing particularly unusual or exceptional going on, but there’s a great balance of honeyed sweetness, oaky spice and, after water, bright, almost tropical fruits. It’s seriously quaffable at that 46.4% drinking strength, too.
Price: £45. No complaints whatsoever. An interesting and very drinkable wee drop at a sensible price. Good stuff.
For more on Woven Whisky, visit here
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