Monkey Shoulder is a mix of three different Speyside single malts and is great with mixers or just on its own. Smooth, sweet and very easy to drink. Monkey Shoulder is a mix of three different Speyside single malts and is great with mixers or just on its own. Smooth, sweet and very easy to drink. Monkey Shoulder is a blended malt from three Speyside distilleries, which explains the three monkeys on the bottle’s shoulder. Ask whether it contains other malts, such as Ailsa Bay from the firm’s giant whisky distillery at Girvan, and you may be asking the wrong question. “Monkey Shoulder is about an attitude and approach to what Scotch whisky is, what it can be and how it’s used,” says Cornthwaite. Why is Monkey Shoulder called Monkey Shoulder we hear you ask! Well, in the traditional malt whisky making process, malted barley is turned by hand by malt men using large heavy malt shovels. Years ago, some malt men would develop a strain injury which had a tendency to cause their arm to hang down a bit like a monkey's, so they nicknamed it 'monkey shoulder'. Thankfully, the condition no longer exists but we're still proud to honour our whisky heritage.