100 PIPERS SCOTCH WHISKIES
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| The Original 100 Pipers NAS |
Seagram's 100 Pipers is
the leading introductory Scotch whisky in India and is supposedly also the leading
Standard Scotch in many countries around the world, including Thailand, Spain,
Venezuela, and Australia. The brand's unique iconography and heritage reflects
the essence of a "True Legend". It is available as a NAS 750 ml
bottle, a 12 YO 750 ml, The Black Watch and, in its latest avatar, an 8 YO Blended
Malt.
The Seagram’s 100 Piper’s blend was created by the Chivas Brothers in 1965, and, as was usually the case with Chivas Brothers, first launched in the US. It owes its name and Celtic imagery to the old Scottish tradition of bagpipers who led soldiers into battle. The ‘100 Pipers’ name in particular, literally comes from the famous ballad of ‘The Hundred Pipers’, which tells of the heroic Bonnie Prince Charlie’s 1745 uprising led by a troop of 100 bagpipers.
Four years later, in 1969, the name ‘Seagram’s’ was added to the label (and remains to this day), and the Scottish flag removed. A 12-year-old extension was added in 1986, by which point 100 Pipers was selling 800,000 cases globally, of which 270,000 were in the UK. A 20-YO version followed two years later. It was claimed to be the fourth best-selling Scotch in Scotland.
In 1992, 100 Pipers became the first Seagram-owned Scotch
whisky in Korea and was launched in Thailand a year later. Back in the UK it
was decided to co-opt a famous Scottish regiment into the brand and rechristen
it the ‘100 Pipers of the Black Watch,’ just in that nation. The more observant
consumers may have wondered why there was just one piper on the label, and in
due course the brand became simply The Black Watch blend.
The contents in the bottle hadn’t changed, and Brits drinking Black Watch were enjoying the exact same standard blend as Thai, Indian and other Asian consumers with their 100 Pipers. By the time Pernod Ricard had acquired the lion’s share of Seagram’s spirits business in 2001, the focus was very much on 100 Pipers in Asia. 100 Pipers started bottling in India in 2011 and is reported to be the seventh largest selling brand of Scotch whisky across the world.
The 100 Pipers 8-year-old blended malt was launched in Thailand in 2005. All this time the brand’s spiritual home was Allt-a-Bhainne, the Speyside distillery built by Seagram in 1975. It is also locally bottled in India where sales of 100 Pipers reached 300,000 cases in 2011.
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The Hundred Pipers family
claim that the aroma is sui generis woody and fruity, with a touch of peat oaky
fragrance in medium intensity creating an aromatic sweetness. The nose is full
and fruity with delicate honey and vanilla notes. The body is heavy, sweet,
complex and rounded, leading to a taste that is full bodied, mellow and sweet,
combined with well balanced notes of fruitiness and soft smokiness. It is
rounded off by a finish that is floral and elegant, with subtle oak notes
coupled with vanilla. These notes stand out in the 12 YO and The Black Watch.
The 8 YO Blended Malt is
evidently a non-conformist. The nose is biscuit & buttery like Apple jelly.
The palate is oily, thick and very sweet, like autumn fruit syrup. The apples
remain with a touch of quince. The cask wood is well integrated. The finish is sweet,
with a slight dry spiciness. Some nuttiness maybe. Overall, a very gentle and
fruity whisky. Would have benefited from a balancing dryness.
