Whisky review #21: 1495 Blended Scotch Whisky

Here's one to avoid, Read on at your own peril! This whisky is called 1495 which refers to the first mention in historic text of the distillation of whisky in Scotland. I could go on but this whiskey doesn't deserve the attention. This is bad whisky! My lowest scoring whisky yet! Oh Dear! looks like I've prematurely deleted my photos again OOOPS!

Price: The cheapest that money can by in Australia and also the best thing that this whisky has going for it (I almost scored this a 6 but I don't think this is actually good value as for a few dollars more you can get a much better blended scotch) : 3/6

Bottle/Label: Not much given away on the label, 40% ABV, no age statement, no mention of caramel addition but it is a budget blend so I expect that this is no older than 3 years old and has had caramel added and has probably been aged in very tired overused oak barrels. The label is not very attractive and the bottle is clear glass, featureless and nothing special to look at. Bog standard, bottom shelf scotch here. 2/6 

Marketing: not much to speak of really, actually in looking for marketing on this I discovered that this is likely a supermarket home-brand whisky produced by a third party for Woolworth's! The link to the article published by Aussie newspaper "The Australian" is below: 0/6

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/executive-living/coles-and-woolworths-sell-homebrand-spirits-though-its-often-hard-to-tell/news-story/e4163e49aa954b19ed99dc31a735198d

Appearance: Yellow gold with some legs forming on the glass - 6/6

Availability: quite available in some bottle shops but not all, this is because it is probably a Woolworth's home-brand bottle in disguise. This will not be in the duty free and I've never seen it in a pub, it is available online - 3/6  

Nose: big whiff of distinctive cheap scotch smell, getting some mint, slight solvent smell like nail varnish remover, some malt sweetness. The nose is not offensive nor is it interesting - 10/20

Taste on entry: not much! no bad flavors or good ones and then the burn hits! - 9/20

Mouth-feel: thin spirit, burns the pallet, this is rough stuff - 4/10

Finish: Burning! Dry, a little something medicinal like fisherman's friends appears and disappears very quickly - 9/20

Total score: 46/100

With this whisky you get what you pay for, and you pay very little. I bought this bottle for two reasons:
First and foremost to use in an experiment to make a homemade fireball type spiced whiskey.

Secondly just to satisfy my curiosity about the cheapest whisky available to me here in Australia.

That box has now been ticked and I will not likely buy another bottle of this in the future unless the experiment comes off really well of course! (It hasn't - Put rubbish in get rubbish out)

Slainte!
Caoimhin