Quote Originally Posted by Phogfan86 View Post
"...But, I think most people prefer Single Malt Whisky and Johnnie Walked is a blended Whisky."

We're going to have to agree to disagree here. Take 100 social drinkers and offer them a single-malt and see what happens. Most folks haven't acquired the taste.

Here's a nice short Whisky 101 of blended whiskys, which is a nice way to start out, from the good folks at Forbes. It runs the gamut, from Famous Grouse at about $20 a bottle to really, really expensive stuff.

http://www.forbes.com/2005/02/16/cx_np_0216feat_ls.html
You are both right, though the proviso "amongst whisky drinkers" needed to be added to the first statement.

Plus, a single malt is a blend with the additional restriction that all the whiskies to be blended must come from the same distillery and malting. As every barrel tastes different, unless you are drinking a single cask whisky, the character of even a single malt owes a debt to the art of the master blender.

Non-single-malt blends tend to be smoother and less flavoursome as they are aimed at the "and coke" market. On the other hand, there is a snobbery about blends amongst whisky drinkers (those who savour their whisky) who will usually pick up a single malt over a blend if the price were the same (and while single malt on the label may be an indicator of quality, it is no guarantee!)
The only way you can sell a tasty blend these days is to make it expensive and sell it to those people who equate price with quality....