Collectivum XXVIII Blended Malt Whisky Review!

Back to school with Roman numerals! No, this is not a 28-year old blended malt, this is a blended malt comprised of whisky from each of Diageo's 28 operating malt whisky distilleries. What about Collectivum? That's Latin, of course, and it means "the Collective"...

Collectivum 28 was released as part of Diageo's Special Releases in 2017. As a cask strength blended malt - so no grain whisky, just different malt whiskies blended together - it was something new for the annual special releases which had previously only featured single malts or single grains, and it was followed in 2018's batch by An Cladach, Gaelic for "shore" or "coast", a blended malt consisting of the company's six operating coastal distilleries. There was no blended malt in the 2019 or 2020 line-ups though, so both of these could be one-offs. Blended malts can be excellent whiskies and are certainly nothing to look down on - in fact in some cases they can be more than the sum of their parts, which is the name of the game! That's even more the case when they are bottled at decent strengths, and with some decent casks in the mix, which is certainly the case here. This whisky wasn't exactly cheap though at $265 AUD, and despite being released nearly four years ago and receiving positive reviews at the time, it can still be found for sale at the original RRP here in 2021. That name, Collectivum 28, is a little cheeky if you ask me - some could easily assume that this is a 28-year old whisky. And there are plenty of examples where various companies and distilleries have done the same thing to an even larger extent, including some that happily print "50" in large plain numbers on their front labels, when the whisky is of course far, far younger. So including some roman numerals, and of course not mentioning "years old" etc. is a nice way of side-stepping that potential issue while still getting your point across. 

'Operating distilleries' of course means no Port Ellen or Brora in the blend, but there is no shortage of distilleries to choose from in Diageo's portfolio. 28 Scotch whisky distilleries, 17 of which are located in the Speyside region, including those that are almost never seen on their own, even in independent bottlings, or at least are never named. The likes of Glenlossie, Strathmill and Glen Spey, and Roseisle. That last one is very interesting, because Roseisle Distillery, Diageo's massive whisky plant near Elgin, only started producing spirit in late 2010 and no single malts have been released to date. In fact the distillery was designed to pump out spirit intended for blends, and the entire production process can be altered at will to produce almost any style of spirit, including mimicking the company's other distilleries. At the other end of the spectrum are single malt heavyweights like Talisker, Lagavulin, Caol Ila, Clynelish and Mortlach, and there are another 19 in the list, so I won't bother naming them all! Naturally we don't know what proportion of each distillery's whisky went in to this blended malt, and some of those distilleries could well be "teaspooned" in this blend rather than detectable or significant contributors. Diageo's blenders aren't silly though, and they do great & very consistent work with the company's huge range of blended whiskies and single malts. So I imagine it was quite the fun project for them to pull dozens, if not hundreds, of samples out of their cupboards and go nuts. That'd be a fun project for any of us, really!

So, a cask strength (57.3% ABV) blended malt released in 2017 and containing malt whisky from 28 different Scotch malt whisky distilleries - 17 of which are located in Speyside - without an age statement, but probably with a minimum age of 6-7 years thanks to the inclusion of Roseisle. Apparently it's also a mix of first-fill and refill American oak and European oak casks, which tells us basically nothing! Never mind, the tasting will have to do the talking. Since it's from Diageo's Special Releases I'm assuming that it is non-chill filtered and naturally coloured, since that's always the case with these cask strength bottlings, but neither is declared on the packaging. The sample for this review came from a generous fellow whisky nerd. Let's get to it!

Collectivum XVIII (28) Blended Malt, NAS, 57.3%. Scotland.

Blended from Diageo's 28 Scotch malt whisky distilleries. Cask strength, presumed natural colour and non-chill filtered. 

Colour: Amber gold. 

Nose: Soft & subtle to start with but opens very nicely. Very Highland region in 'feel'. Grassy malted barley, a drying chalky minerality and coastal salinity. Sweet red apples, aniseed and black pepper. Toffee chews, and a nice waxiness and meatiness - beef jerky and waxy green banana skins. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight, rich & oily, great texture! Slight heat but not distracting at all. 

Taste: Rich, oily entry with sweet & grassy malted barley, more red apples, old machine oils and a slight touch of old leather. That chalky minerality again and a touch of soft earthy peat. Black pepper again plus some green chilli and a little sandalwood. Nice floral sweetness around the edges as well. 

Finish: Long length. Dried orange, and the black pepper & green chilli carry through, plus that waxiness and old machine oil. Dusty red apples and a couple of brown pears, aniseed again and that coastal chalky & salty note sitting in the background. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Very, very delicious! There's a lot of complexity here, as you'd expect with 28 different malts I suppose, but there's also balance, and the whole thing feels very well paced and unhurried. There are definitely shades of Talisker, Clynelish, Mortlach & Mannochmore making themselves known, but it's near impossible to accurately pick out distillery character when there are 28 constituents to choose from! There are also shades of Campbeltown here, which is the only Scotch whisky region where you will not find a Diageo distillery - although in fairness there are only three to choose from - by way of that oiliness, coastal influence and a touch of earthy dunnage character. There's only a little peat on the palate, and none on the nose to my senses, despite the presence of Talisker, Lagavulin & Caol Ila being in the mix somewhere - but don't get me wrong, it's not missing anything at all. The malty, peppery, oily & waxy notes give this whisky plenty of depth, and the mouth feel is just excellent!

Blended malts really do seem to be on the rise lately, and more power to them! If you're one of the "I only drink single malts" crowd, then you're really missing out. When bottled at a decent strength and naturally presented blends can wipe the floor with many single malts, even at similar price points. Great work by the blenders here, such a large blend - in terms of the sheer number of different whiskies in the mix - could've easily become a big mess, but in my amateur opinion they've nailed this one. Let's hope we see a few more cask strength blended malts in the Special Releases in future!

Cheers!