Monkey Shoulder

Monkey Shoulder is a blended malt Scotch whisky, which means it is a mix of single malts from more than one distillery, with no grain whisky. It was launched in 2005 by William Grant & Sons, the family company behind Glenfiddich and The Balvenie.

The name refers to an old strain injury among maltmen, who turned germinating barley by hand on malting floors and sometimes developed a dropped shoulder. The brand was first built around malts from the company's Speyside distilleries Glenfiddich, The Balvenie and Kininvie, though the recipe is no longer tied to those three alone.

The style is smooth, malty and approachable, with vanilla and honeyed notes. It is bottled at 40% and is aimed both at sipping and at cocktails.

The core bottling is simply Monkey Shoulder, sold in several sizes from a mini to a 1 litre bottle and the large 4.5 litre Gorilla format. Smokey Monkey is a peated version of the same idea.