The World’s Best Blended Scotch Whisky, The 2026 World Whiskies Awards

A glass of Scotch Whisky above Glenfinnan in the West Highlands of Scotland.

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The World Whiskies Awards have announced their 2026 Blended Scotch whisky winners. From Turntable’s music-focused, high-malt experiments to Duncan Taylor’s octave-finished rarities, this year’s list showcases the evolution of blended Scotch. Below is a brief overview of the world’s top-rated Blended Scotch whiskies.

In this feature, we highlight the distilleries behind the top-rated blended whiskies and blended-malt Scotches, both historic names and new entrants, and explore what you can expect in your glass, from Ballantine’s polished age-statements and Dewar’s magma-toasted Double Double series to Johnnie Walker’s seasonal one-offs and smoke-infused malts from Noble Rebel and MacNair’s.

Turntable Spirits

Turntable Spirits is a contemporary blending house based in Glasgow, established in 2022 by brothers Ally and Gordon Stevenson after extensive years in the whisky industry. They specialize in small-batch blends with a notably high malt content, provide full transparency on component casks, and release music-inspired whiskies.

Turntable, Bittersweet Symphony, Blended Scotch Whisky, NAS, 46% ABV, 750 ml.

A blend of 81% malt and 19% grain whiskey, this exceptional high-malt Scotch is built on sherry-seasoned Craigellachie and Balmenach, plus virgin-oak matured Blair Athol and North British grain. It’s crafted to balance lush sweetness with a bittersweet edge.

The whisky features pronounced sherried fruit aromas of raisins, dates, blackcurrant and red berry compote layered with vanilla fudge and caramel, a touch of tropical fruit notes of pineapple and mango, milk chocolate, and seasoned oak.

The palate showcases flavors of rich fruitcake and dark berries, followed by toffee, caramel, roasted pineapple, orange zest bitterness, baking spices, and a peppery snap over a chewy malt core.

The finish is medium length, with lingering notes of dried fruits, cocoa, seasoned oak, and a touch of citrus zest and cracked black pepper.

Ballantine’s

Ballantine’s traces its roots to 1827, when grocer George Ballantine began selling whisky in Edinburgh and later blending his own in Glasgow. Today, it’s produced by Chivas Brothers/Pernod Ricard, and is one of the world’s top-selling Scotch brands. The house style’s core malts are drawn from Miltonduff and Glenburgie, backed by dozens of other malt and grain whisky components.

Ballantine’s 10-Year-Old, Blended Scotch Whisky, 40% ABV, 750 ml.

The whisky features floral/potpourri aromas along with notes of honey, vanilla cream, cooked barley malt, seasoned oak, and orchard fruit hints of apple and pear.

It’s light-to-medium bodied and creamy on the palate, showcasing flavors of honey, subtle floral notes of heather, vanilla, seasoned oak, and a touch of citrus.

The finish is long, clean, sweet, and faintly drying with lingering notes of honey, vanilla, and oak spices.

Ballantine’s 23-Year-Old, Blended Scotch Whisky, 40% ABV, 750 ml.

Matured predominantly in first-fill American oak, with Glenburgie malt at its core, the Ballantine’s 23 YO is earmarked for travel-retail, featuring an ultra-smooth, fruit-forward blend.

The whisky features fruity aromas of apples, pears, and stone fruits, along with vanilla custard, caramel, oak spices, and a hint of tropical mango and papaya.

It’s smooth and silky on the palate, showcasing flavors of caramel, dark toffee, orchard and tropical fruit, cinnamon, clove, orange zest, and a touch of honeyed malt.

The finish is long, sweet, and satin-smooth, with lingering notes of wood spices, vanilla, dried fruit, and seasoned oak.

Some of the Scotch whisky expressions in the Dewar’s Double Double range

Phot, courtesy Dewar’sDewar’s

Dewar’s began in 1846 when John Dewar Sr. opened a wine and spirits shop in Perth and started bottling his own blends—a rarity at the time. Under his sons John Alexander and Tommy Dewar, the brand grew into a global powerhouse, building Aberfeldy distillery in 1898 as the malt “heart” for its blends.

Now owned by Bacardi, Dewar’s is known for “double-aging,” and it’s “Double Double”, a four-stage aging. Today, it draws its core malts from five proprietary distilleries: Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Craigellachie, Royal Brackla, and Macduff.

Dewar’s 18-Year-Old, Blended Scotch Whisky, 40% ABV, 750 ml.

The whisky is rich and aromatic, featuring honey, toffee, and vanilla notes layered with dried fruits, dark chocolate, marzipan, and a touch of floral and nutty elements.

The whisky is creamy and smooth on the palate, featuring honeyed malt, toffee, black tea, cocoa, toasted nuts, and stewed stone fruits, with a subtle herbal undertone.

The finish is long, silky, and gently drying, with lingering notes of chocolate, almond paste, honey, and oak spices fading into a subtle herbal note.

Dewar’s 19-Year-Old Champions Edition, Blended Scotch Whisky, 43% ABV, 750 ml.

A limited-release series tied to Dewar’s sponsorship of the U.S. Open, the 19-year Champions Edition is matured in American bourbon casks and, in recent iterations, finished in new American oak and rye casks for extra sweetness and spice.

The whisky features aromas of New Zealand Manuka honey, toasted muffin, vanilla, and cream soda, with hints of toasted coconut, banana chips, and baking spices.

It’s sweet and creamy on the palate, showcasing flavors of vanilla frosting, honey, and butterscotch along with salted caramel, nougat, orchard fruit, and baked cinnamon-laced apple.

The finish is medium-long, rich and dessert-like, with lingering notes of honey, caramel, seasoned oak, and a touch of wood spices.

Dewar’s Double Double 21-Year-Old, Magma Stone Toasted French Oak, Level 3, Blended Scotch Whisky, 46% ABV, 750 ml.

Part of the experimental Double Double line, this 21-year-old goes through Dewar’s four-stage aging. It is then finished in virgin French oak casks, toasted with Icelandic magma/volcanic stones, designed to coax a distinct oak profile.

The whisky features delicate floral aromas along with honey, cinnamon-dusted baked apple, creamy caramel, vanilla, and toasted malt/cereal, plus a faint roasted coffee note.

It’s smooth and plush on the palate, showcasing flavors of honey, vanilla fudge, cinnamon, clove, roasted coffee bean, baked apple, and toasted malt/grain, with a subtle tannic grip from the French oak.

The finish is long, spicy, and layered, with lingering notes of dark chocolate, coffee, caramel, and toasted oak.

Some of the expressions in the Johnnie Walker range of Blended Scotch Whisky

Photo, courtesy Johnnie Walker/DiageoJohnnie Walker

The Johnnie Walker brand began life in 1820 when John Walker opened a grocery shop in Kilmarnock and started blending whiskies for his customers. Over time, the family developed proprietary blends that became global brands.

Today, Johnnie Walker is the world’s best-selling Scotch whisky, produced by Diageo using malt and grain whiskies from across its various distilleries, with flagship visitor experiences in Edinburgh and elsewhere.

Johnnie Walker Autumn/Winter Seasonal Blend Scotch Whisky,48% ABV, 700 ml.

A hand-filled, limited seasonal bottling only available at Johnnie Walker’s Edinburgh Princes Street Visitor Center. It’s pitched as a richer, colder-weather dram.

Noble Rebel

Noble Rebel is a contemporary blended-malt brand from the Loch Lomond Group, launched in 2023 to showcase creative cask finishes and the versatile still set-up at Loch Lomond distillery.

The Highland distillery, in its modern form dating to the 1960s, is unusual for producing both malt and grain on one site, using a mix of traditional swan-neck and straight-neck stills.

Noble Rebel, Smoke Symphony, Blended Scotch Whisky, 46% ABV, 750 ml.

A Rioja-finished blended malt combining peated and unpeated malts, primarily from Loch Lomond, with a modern, fruit-and-smoke profile. It’s non-chill filtered and bottled with natural color.

The whisky features aromas of campfire smoke, smoldering wood, wine-soaked red berries, cherry jam, vanilla, and oak spices with hints of leather and a touch of cinnamon.

The palate showcases flavors of earthy peat and grilled fruit, chili pepper heat, cherries, blackberries, black pepper, cinnamon, and a subtle Rioja-derived berry tanginess.

The finish is long and slightly drying, with lingering notes of cold smoke, tangy red fruit, vanilla, pepper, and wood spices.

MacNair’s House of Spirits

MacNair’s is part of The GlenAllachie Distillers Company, the independent Speyside producer led by veteran blender Billy Walker. The distillery was built in 1967 near Aberlour and long supplied blends before being acquired in 2017 by Walker and partners.

They repositioned MacNair’s as a “boutique house of spirits” covering both whisky and rum. Lum Reek is their peated blended-malt line, marrying Islay and Speyside malts, some of them older GlenAllachie, and maturing them on site in a variety of cask types.

MacNair’s Lum Reek Blended Scotch Whisky, 12-Year-Old, 46% ABV, 750 ml.

The whisky is a blend of peated and unpeated Islay and Speyside single malts, matured in a mix of first-fill bourbon, Pedro Ximénez sherry, and red-wine casks.

The whisky features subtle aromas of peat smoke intertwined with notes of butterscotch, mocha, heather honey, and a dusting of nutmeg and baking spices.

It features flavors of heather honey and chewy toffee on the palate, followed by cinnamon, clove, and mocha notes, on a base of sweet malt and cold smoke.

The finish is medium length, with lingering notes of cold campfire smoke, toffee, spices, and a subtle winey richness from the sherry/red-wine casks.

Duncan Taylor

Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky Ltd. is an independent bottler founded in Glasgow in 1938 and now based in Huntly, Aberdeenshire. Over the decades, as a cask broker, it amassed one of the most extensive private stocks of mature Scotch casks, which are bottled under various ranges.

The Octave Collection finishes select casks with an additional maturation in much smaller, 13-gallon/50-liter “octave” casks, intensifying the wood influence. The Huntly is a blended malt released in small batches and has been a perennial winner in international spirit competitions.

The Octave, The Huntly, Blended Malt Whisky, 21-Year-Old, Cask Strength 52.7% ABV, 700 ml.

The whisky features fruit aromas of melon, kiwi, gooseberry, and apple, along with notes of sponge cake/ladyfingers and barley sugar.

The palate showcases tart orange and citrus compote, allspice, barley sugar, and hard sugar candies, evolving toward sweeter apple and stone-fruit notes as it opens.

The finish is creamy, sweet, and fruity, with lingering notes of citrus oils, wood spices, cooked malt, and seasoned oak.

Taken together, these winners show that blended Scotch is no longer just the workhorse of the back bar; it’s a playground for serious craft. High-malt recipes, experimental finishes, and carefully layered peat are giving blenders as much creative range as any single-malt distiller. At the same time, age-stated classics continue to deliver the satin polish that made Scotch famous in the first place.

Whether your tastes run to sherry-drenched richness, dessert-like Highland sweetness, or Rioja-tinted smoke, the 2026 World Whiskies Awards Blended Scotch Whisky champions offer a ready-made roadmap. The only real question is where you want your next glass to land on that spectrum—and how many of these bottles your bar and budget can reasonably hold.

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