As for the part of whiskey that matters, the enjoyment, there is no reason why a blended whiskey would be inferior or superior to a single malt. The difference is only in that single malts from one region will have the region’s characteristics come through in the scotch. This is difficult with blends because you have a lot of different whiskeys blended together. It’s like listening to a violin versus listening to an orchestra, to use the orchestra analogy once again.

So, when choosing what you’ll be having, it’s more important to be familiar with the whiskey rather than look to see whether it’s a blend or a single malt. Like age, whether the scotch is blended or a single malt is a poor indicator of whether you’ll enjoy it.