Claxton's Smoking Furnace Blended Scotch Whisky (700ml)

"...a magnificent first foray...They haven’t just nailed it with this release, they have smashed it out of the park." - dramface.com

Smoking Furnace is the new blend created at Claxton's Dalswinton Bond using a high-peated malt spec. Twelve months finishing in toasted and heavily re-charred oak casks account for some of its richness. Also noteworthy is a high ABV and the fact that it's bottled without chill filtration - uncommon in the blended market. From a 25ml sample, Smoking Furnace is a charming and laid back blend, sweet on the nose with suggestions of toffee apples and discreet peat before a cured meat / smokey bbq character develops; On the palate, malt outweighs the grains. The peat leans towards chimney soot. Brisk and sleek with light tongue-coating oils, becoming sooty and fruity-sweet, balanced by more bbq char notes, lively spices and spirit heat. Superb easy-drinking in the peated category, it should give Johnnie Walker Black a run for its money. 46% Alc./Vol.

Other reviews... This one glides over the palate and I’m immediately struck by how little the grain is dominant in this blend. The smokiness is not an Islay one, much too luxurious and crammed full of sweet bonfire notes... The Smoking Furnace is a magnificent first foray into the blending world from a company that had never used the term before. It is quite clear that the malt content is considerably higher than that of the other two blended whiskies tasted (the Hogshead being a blended malt wins this competition). Being bottled at 46% and without colouring (something JW Black cannot claim) gives the Smoking Furnace a greater body and depth of flavour. Claxton’s - a company obsessed with single malts delving into the world of blends – are, therefore, the opposite of Diageo. They haven’t just nailed it with this release, they have smashed it out of the park.  It is a release that suggests blending doesn’t need decades of apprenticeship, a degree from Heriot-Watt, reverie or the term ‘Master’ before whatever you wish to add after it. Smoking Furnace is a release reinforcing that great whisky doesn’t require great status, pomposity or deference. I’m getting carried away again. - dramface.com