The Monkey Shoulder Scotch Guide

Monkey Shoulder is a blended malt Scotch whisky from William Grant & Sons, the family company behind Glenfiddich and The Balvenie, bottled at 40 percent with no age statement and sold, in the producer’s own words, as “made for mixing.” Here is what “blended malt” means in law and why it is not a single malt, what the three brass monkeys and “Batch 27” on the bottle refer to, where the name comes from, the two line extensions, the dated history from the 1887 founding to the 2018 cement-mixer cocktail shaker, how strong a pour is, and five drinks to make with it.

Last verified September 14, 2026. The legal definitions are quoted from the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 and 27 CFR 5.143; brand facts are from William Grant & Sons, The Spirits Business’s brand history and Difford’s Guide’s producer-supplied pages, with retailer listings for bottle sizes; standard drinks from NIAAA; calories from USDA FoodData Central. The producer’s own site could not be read on the verification date, so anything we could not confirm is marked. Full list at the end.

What “blended malt” means

The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 define five categories, and the words on the label are fixed by them. A Single Malt Scotch Whisky is distilled “at a single distillery” from “water and malted barley without the addition of any other cereals” in “pot stills.” A Blended Malt Scotch Whisky is “a blend of two or more Single Malt Scotch Whiskies” from “more than one distillery.” A Blended Scotch Whisky (Johnnie Walker, Dewar’s, Grant’s) is “a blend of one or more Single Malt Scotch Whiskies with one or more Single Grain Scotch Whiskies.” So Monkey Shoulder is made only of single malts, from several distilleries, with no grain whisky; that puts it in the middle category, which the trade used to call “vatted malt” before the 2009 rules settled the name. It cannot be labeled a single malt because it comes from more than one distillery.

Every category shares the same floor: Scotch must be distilled in Scotland at less than 94.8 percent alcohol, “matured only in oak casks of a capacity not exceeding 700 litres,” “matured only in Scotland,” “for a period of not less than three years,” with nothing added but water and plain caramel coloring, and bottled at a “minimum alcoholic strength by volume of 40%.” Regulation 12 adds that any age on a label “may only be specified … where it refers to the youngest alcoholic component,” which is why a no-age-statement whisky tells you only that everything in it is three years or older. In the US, 27 CFR 5.143 recognizes Scotch whisky as “a distinctive product of Scotland, manufactured in Scotland in compliance with the laws of the United Kingdom,” and has no “blended malt” class of its own, so the UK designation is what appears on the American label.

What is in the bottle

Difford’s Guide, whose brand pages are supplied by the producer, says Monkey Shoulder is “made by blending three of William Grant & Sons’ Speyside malts – Balvenie, Glenfiddich and Kininvie,” and that the three distilleries “all lie on the same estate of the edge of Dufftown.” The Spirits Business’s 2018 brand history says the specific distillery names are not disclosed and that the three brass monkeys on the bottle’s shoulder “represent the three malts.” We could not read the producer’s own site on the verification date, so take the three names as reported by Difford’s rather than confirmed by William Grant. The “Batch 27” on the neck collar, per Difford’s, “refers to Monkey Shoulder being blended in batches of 27 casks,” the number the blend is “known as” in the blending room. It is not an age, and the bottle carries none. The whisky is 40 percent ABV in a 700 mL bottle in the UK and EU; US retail sizes follow the 750 mL standard of fill, though we did not read a US listing for this page.

Where the name comes from

The name is a workplace injury. At a traditional floor maltings, barley is spread on a stone floor to germinate and turned by hand, and The Spirits Business describes the result: “Malt men would march up and down flipping the grain over their shoulders with malt shovels, known as shiels. Some developed repetitive strain injury causing one arm to hang low like a monkey’s.” Difford’s adds that Balvenie “is, in fact, one of the few distilleries which still use traditional floor maltings,” and that “its maltmen are now assisted by a power-driven device rather like a plough.” The Balvenie’s registered address is still The Balvenie Maltings, Dufftown.

The company

William Grant & Sons says its founder “established our company in 1887” and that “the first drop of Glenfiddich flowed from our stills” on Christmas Day that year. It remains “100% Family Owned” across six generations, with chairman Glenn Gordon “a fifth generation family member,” more than 2,800 employees, sales in almost 200 markets and “distilleries and bottling facilities in the UK, Ireland, USA, India and Mexico.” Its major brands, by its own list, are Glenfiddich, The Balvenie, Monkey Shoulder, Hendrick’s, Grant’s, The Famous Grouse, Tullamore D.E.W., Sailor Jerry, Drambuie, Reyka and Milagro.

The range

The history, with dates

Three things to get right. Monkey Shoulder is not a single malt; it is a blended malt from more than one distillery, and the 2009 regulations do not allow the single malt label for that. “Batch 27” is not an age statement or a limited-edition number; it is the 27-cask batch size. And the name is not a marketing joke; the producer traces it to the maltmen’s shoulder injury.

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