Scotch

Whisky Review: SIA Blended Scotch

We review SIA Blended Scotch. It's a blend of Speyside, Highland, Lowland, and Islay whiskies brought to market by an American independent bottler.

OVERALL RATING

7
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Sia Blended Scotch (image via Scott Bernard Nelson)

Tasting Notes

About:

Appearance:
Light amber, with an orange-peel tint; runny legs on the side of the glass. Well-designed hour-glass bottle, which looks distinctive alongside most other bottles.
Nose:
Perfume, honey, and flowery potpourri. SIA prides itself on being an approachable Scotch, even for people who haven’t tried or don’t like Scotch. The nose checks that box. It’s sweet and easy-going, if not particularly layered or complicated.
Palate:


Finish:
Comments:
Whisky has a definite old-world vibe, bringing to mind time-worn techniques and historic distilleries and years (or decades) spent aging in barrels. A Kickstarter campaign feels altogether too modern for the world of whiskies. Luna-Ostaseski doesn’t worry about all that. SIA doesn’t make whisky; it blends it and it brands it. The label works with the best blenders in the Scotch business and has, to use Luna-Ostaseski’s words, created a light and easy Scotch that “appeals to a modern palate.” If I were sitting around a table with a group that had a wide variety of comfort levels with whisky, this is the kind of bottle I’d want to pour. It would also go well in a mixed drink, blending non-combatively with other flavors.

Editor’s Note: This whiskey was either bought as a sample by The Whiskey Wash or provided to us as a review sample by the party behind it. Per our editorial policies, this in no way influenced the outcome of this review.

Scott Bernard Nelson

Scott Bernard Nelson is a writer, actor, and whiskey reviewer based in Portland, Oregon. While currently working in higher education, he previously dedicated 22 years to journalism, covering impactful events such as 9/11 in Manhattan, crossing into Iraq with U.S. Marines, and contributing to The Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of abuse in the Catholic Church, which inspired the film "Spotlight." Since 2019, Scott has shared his insights as a whiskey reviewer for The Whiskey Wash.  

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