Favourite blended whisky?

@thedude, I am personally going to try some of the blends recommended by Ralfy.com, some of which are: Teachers Highland Cream, Jonnie Walker Black, Isle Skye 8, Black Bottle and Monkey Shoulder. Actually, I have tried JW Black and Chivas 12, 18, and after experiencing the single malts, they were mostly uninteresting, but certainly better than nothing.

The Black Bull blends are really great. Black Bull 30 years Black Bull 40 years

whiskynotes.be/2009/blends/… whiskynotes.be/2009/blends/…

@thedude, I also liked the chivas 12, and my friends got me a small bottle of chivas 18 which also was very nice (but still no single malt, obviously)

Got a bottle of JW Green at a duty free recently, it's a blend of four good single malts and it's pretty darn good. Sometimes I just like a good shot of Ballantine's, down in one with a beer chaser, preferably a good dark ale.

@thedude Chivas Royal Salute 21, but not really an option if the budget is tight :-) For a penniless peat freak Islay Mist and Smokehead are just barely acceptable, but with the current price drops you should be able to find much better single malts like Bowmore Legend, Lph 10 or Finlaggan 10 OP for the same price.

Nikka Taketsuru (both 17 and 21 yo)

When visiting a bar or restaurant that doesn't serve single malts (unfortunately those are still quite a few) I sometimes dare drink a Chivas 12 Year Old. I also like JW Black Label. But stay away from William Lawson's - no matter how funky the commercials, the booze is no good.

Black Bottle is great value if you can find it, sometimes for as little as £11. I once read someone recommended adding a few drops of their favourite Islay malt into a dram of Black Bottle, with the result being it takes on much of the character of the more expensive malt. I've tried it myself, adding some laphroig to a dram of black bottle, and while I'm not entirely convinced, that person might be on to something. It became probably a more intense whisky than just the BB on its own.

My favourite blend though is BNJ.

I definitely second the Black Bottle rec - of the cheaper blends (the ones with grain in, rather than the formerlyKnownAs vatted malts) it's the one that I can happily drink thanks to that peaty hit hiding the cheaper grain underneath.

I just got a bottle of the Nikka Whisky from the Wood, which is rather nice from the tiny taste I had this evening, but mainly I'd recommend anything from Compass Box - they may not be cheaper blends but they do rather magical things.

I'm not a big blend fan, but I've really been enjoying the Hibiki 12. Besides, my wife thinks the bottle is attractive enough to leave out.

The only blend I've every bought was a JW Green. I really liked it, and plan on getting another bottle at some point. I usually stick to single malts, but plan on looking at few blends at some point.

My favorite blend, which is also one of my favorite whiskies, is Johnny Walker Blue label. Of course, that's not for one on a budget. I have had the Dimple Pinch, and it's quite good for a less expensive blended scotch.