The blend
The blend

The J&B Rare blend

Words by Simon Difford

A great blended whisky is dependent on a regular supply of a wide range of component whiskies and the knowledge and experience of the Master Blender to bring these everchanging whiskies together to match the flavour profile set in place and then maintained by previous blenders. In the case of J&B Rare this is made more challenging by the stipulation that the blend must contain 42 single malts.

One of the first things that Caroline Martin, blender of J&B Rare, said when we started chatting expresses her sense of responsibility, "When it comes to blends, we obviously are custodians of everything, we've got to protect that quality and make sure what the consumers are experiencing is consistent." As Caroline talked to me about J&B Rare it was with the pride that a parent talks about their well-mannered, successful, good-looking child. This was particularly so when she described the flavour of J&B Rare (see below) after she told me on phone, "I'm actually sitting with a glass of J&B Rare, I thought I'd put myself in the right space of mind..." Best you grab yourself a dram before reading the following.

J&B Rare is, as far as I'm aware, the only blended whisky that stipulates a specific number of malts and grain whiskies comprise the blend. And as Caroline says, "42 is a significant number of malt and grain whiskies, all quite diverse in flavour styles, but you need that number to deliver the aromas and flavours that you find in a bottle of J&B Rare."

I tried to tease the percentage of malt vs grain from Caroline who answered "I've been sworn to secrecy on that one...but I'd say for me, it's all about the flavour, so there's the correct amount of malt flavours going in there to deliver the final profile of J&B Rare and that's critical. It's about targeting mature whisky cask when the flavour is right, so I'm pre-empting your next question in that J&B Rare does not have an age statement on it, but for me, the effect of the cask is quite significant in J&B Rare and that is important to maintain that so again we are selecting the casks when the flavour is at its optimum for J&B Rare.

Whatever that timescale is in cask, as a whisky maker, I love that flexibility to select whiskies when the flavour is right and not when a number is reached. That is key for me. It helps consistency as well. It pays to pick and choose the right casks at the right time, because every cask is different, has its own personality if you like, it is very important to pick it at the right flavour time."

J&B Rare is one of Diageo's blends, so Caroline is fortunate to have the largest inventory of ageing casks to draw from with around 10 million casks of malt and grain whiskies maturing in its warehouses. It's not just about the volume of stock but its diversity thanks to the company's 27 malt and two grain distilleries producing a vast range of different flavour styles. "It's a huge stock to be able to pull on, so as whisky makers we're really, really spoilt to be able to pull on these as required. I would say that across all the Diageo blended whiskies we need to flex to accommodate what we have in the inventory and that's where the skill of the blenders or the whisky makers come into play because we want consumers to see is very consistent product quality and that is the endpoint that we have totally focused on."

"For J&B Rare there are a few mandatory individual malt whiskies that definitely must be include. For J&B Rare these are Mannochmore, Auchroisk, Glen Spey and Strathmill. Then beyond that, we keep as much as possible consistent but we have the opportunity to flex if required but that is part of the skill of the blender, knowing which ones you can substitute for others. If you do too much of that and take it to the extreme, then what you see in the bottle is something quite different to where you want it to be so there's a great deal of skill and craftsmanship goes into ensuring that consistency in the bottle."

But it's not just single malts that comprise those 42 different whiskies, grain whiskies are, according to Caroline, "really significant in terms of the flavour and aroma delivery of the whisky. So we don't call out specific grain whiskies, there are no mandatory grain whiskies mentioned there, but obviously Diageo own Cameronbridge distillery that's our biggest grain distillery it's based out in Fife, it's got the capabilities to produce in terms of volume, the equivalent of all our other malt distilleries put together, but aside from that there are other grain whiskies that go in there and again that can vary, depending on the inventory and the amount of grain whiskies in the different casks styles, whether it's bourbon, refill, or whatever, but generically grain whiskies for me are typically light in style, certainly lighter in flavour and aroma than any malt whisky. Grain whisky tends to open up the flavour of the malt whiskies, it takes the flavour styles of these whiskies to a different place, it reduces the intensity of the malt distillery character but it also changes it in a way that for me, delivers a bit of intrigue. The layers of complexity that you get by making into a blend and adding grain whiskies, gives it something, takes it to a place that is unexpected in a way that 1 + 1 no longer makes 2, but five or ten. And without the grain whiskies, the flavour styles are definitely different. These grain whiskies also have an inherent mouthfeel so there's an elegance to grain whisky flavour styles, a softness, a roundedness, and the mouthfeel can be left almost like a silkiness, there's an oily silky texture if you like, that is delivered by adding grain whiskies to blends."

J&B Rare tasting notes by Caroline

"J&B Rare comes across as a very elegant blend. On the nose initially, I get a creamy sweetness from the American wood in particular, which is very approachable, very accessible. It reveals a cut grass vibrancy, it's very fresh, very clean, and it conjures up an impression in my that is very much like springtime, everything is coming back to life after a long dark winter in Scotland. And you get that green grassy freshness which is very appealing again. And I've said at the very start it is a very elegant blend, but it is very complex in its own way, and you go back a third and fourth time, and it reveals something else that continues to build, and so that subsequent nose has a creamy, nuttiness. I'm renowned within the whisky team here as describing it as hair-like so that sweetness and dried grassy note is something that reveals as you continue to nose and taste it. And for me, that's the bit that differentiates it from any other blended scotch, that hair-like character, that layer of complexity.

"And then you go on to taste it, and it has all of those notes to taste, but in addition to that, it has this warming spicy note. And that is partly due to the individual malts that goes in there, and the fact that we are using some rejuvenated casks, so that warming spice, it's almost like ginger and cinnamon, but not as pronounced as that, and it pulls it all together. And that warmth in the aftertaste continues for quite some time, and then you get a hint of smoke but it's very subtle, it's just a soft wispy smoke, not pronounced in any way, so again it's not challenging in the overall perception of J&B Rare, but the spice and the smoke for me pulls it together, rounds it off perfectly, and it provides a mellow finish in the mouth.

"It's intriguing if you like, it continues to reveal things, but overall it's a very harmonious blend, you get subtly overall, there's not one attribute that jumps out at you more than others. And the texture I referred to earlier on, that silky elegance is something I really resonate with. There's a lot in there, but overall fresh, vibrant, a bit like springtime, everything is coming to life, and that hay attribute is critically important because that is the differentiating thing for me other to anything else.

"That's when it's tasted neat, we typically reduce everything to about 20 / 23% alcohol and it allows that aroma to come off more, and you can define them more accurately, but if I'm a consumer, I have my consumer hat on, then I typically enjoy J&B Rare very chilled, in a chilled tall glass, with lots of ice, and I think it works remarkably well with cola, and the reason I think it works well with cola is that you have the spicy notes in cola and J&B Rare, and you also have the fresh fruity notes in cola and J&B Rare. And it was an eye-opener for me because we were doing a bit of work on J&B Rare and assessing its quality, and I could pick up differences in a more pronounced way with cola than I could with water. In theory, you wouldn't think it would work, but for me, the mixer, in that case, is really important to pull apart slight differences and I think that's why I enjoy it mixed, long, with cola, very refreshing, and the attributes in the mixer and the whisky enhance each other."

Caroline sums up...

"I think we've covered everything...the main point is it's a unique blended scotch and one that is very close to my heart because it is an elegant blend, but you need to take the time to savour and appreciate the aromas and layers of complexity in there. It is about being able to differentiate it to any other blended scotch and for me that is through that sweet hay-like characteristic. It is linked with memory for me, the springtime thing, and I think in all honesty it's what a lot of people are able to do, the perception of flavours and aromas links in their head and takes them to memory and people can articulate aromas and flavours in an easier way if they link it to memory. It is about elegance, harmony, revealing something with cola, it just enhances the whole experience to taste it.

"The big thing that intrigues me every day is my passion for aroma and flavour. And I get the opportunity to dabble with an amazing inventory to create new blends but also make sure J&B Rare is consistent going to the consumer."

About Caroline Martin

Caroline was born and bred in the town of Falkirk, central Scotland where she attended primary and secondary school. She became interested in science throughout the secondary school particularly chemistry, also excelling in physics and biology. She was and continues to be passionate about food and nutrition. particularly about recipe adaptation. She continued that passion of food science and went on to further education in Edinburgh at Queen Margaret College (now Queen Margaret University).

"I was really intrigued in terms of flavours and the whole sensory perception and how you describe different aromas and flavours. So, my first experience of sensory analysis in its broader terminology was at the College where I specialised in food science in the final year and graduated with a BA in home economics. So, it was an arts degree and the role I'm in now is very much about the balance between the arts and the science of whisky blending."

In 1986, a year after graduating, Caroline was fortunate enough to land a key role within Diageo (then called DCL) where she has worked ever since. She joined as a member of a newly assembled team developing new alcoholic beverages and it gave her the opportunity to work with flavour houses. As she says, "the ingredients you are not allowed to use in whisky blending colours and food thickeners and carbonation levels."

"Interesting products were launched, and it meant quite a bit of travelling to run the products past our marketing team in London. I was really interested in how consumers perceive these prototypes even before they were launched and I got the opportunity to experience that from behind a one-way mirror. You get a real feel for how their facial expressions tell you how they perceive it and whether they like it or they don't like it, but going beyond that it's about how do you build a bridge between what we call our expert panel and what the consumers actually detect, and that's something that intrigues me still to this day and it keeps the job really interesting."

Due to expressing an interest to get a bit closer to accessing flavour, she went on secondment to the sensory department for six months. "It was meant to be. I stayed there and never went back. Sensory perception and sensory analysis and the world of flavours and aromas is one that everyday intrigues me..."

Caroline went over into the world of whisky just prior to the millennium to train people to describe flavours beyond saying "a whisky is peaty or smoky and I get a bit of sweetness and I get a bit of woody, and you go beyond that and people typically struggle with descriptors. So, to train them in the world of attributes and to get them to appreciate these attributes."

Beyond blending, she's involved in new make from our malt and grain distilleries and says "I have an in-depth knowledge of what the distillery character is like for each and every malt and grain distillery and I think that's critically important because we need to have the capabilities to fast forward the clock and know what we're going to get at the mature whisky stage will support our blends and our single malts and single grain offerings."

Also a qualified clinical aromatherapist Caroline blends her own essential oils and says, "the way I look on individual whiskies and individual essential oils is quite different again to anybody else that I've come across, in that I actually give these essential oils and whiskies personalities. I describe them in the way of, if they were a human being, would they be male or female, and try and describe how they would conduct themselves, are they quite lively and sharp and focused, or are they more a bit more relaxed and smooth and rounded.
And that is meaningful to me, but I think it is quite different to how other people approach whisky blending and blending essential oils or anything else really, that's the way it's meaningful to me."

"So that blending theme has been resonant with me throughout my whole career, from high school days, you know when I was blending different food ingredients and continued that through to university life and then on to starting work with DCL it was about blending different flavours and ingredients together. Then obviously in the whisky forum, it's about blending different individual whiskies together. There's something there that keeps pulling me toward this blending theme, I'm not quite sure what it is, but it's something that interests me and keeps me focused.

Welcome to Difford's Guide

All editorial and photography on this website is copyright protected

© Odd Firm of Sin 2025