Here is the second Compass Box review of the week. The first was of the Enlightenment, which was released in April 2016 as a response to EU and UK regulations that forbid whisky producers from disclosing the ages of constituent whiskies in their blends/vattings (at least I think that’s what they were responding to—it’s been a while and I confess I didn’t follow the drama very closely even then). Today’s review is of the so-called Three Year Old Deluxe which was released a few months later in August 2016 and was marketed as yet another salvo against the arbitrariness of those regulations. Here, the whiskymakers told us, they had composed a whisky that comprised only 1% of a 3 yo single malt from a highlands distillery (“near the village of Brora”; i.e Clynelish) and 90% of “considerably older” whisky from the same distillery; the remaining 9% came from a distillery on Skye (i.e Talisker). Of course, by the regulations the only age that can be disclosed is that of the youngest whisky in the vatting, making it a 3 yo and isn’t that silly?

I have to say I found, and still find, this fuss to be incoherent at best and disingenuous at worst. The concern is not that companies would be making whiskies comprised largely of very old whiskies, then for some reason adding tiny bits of very young whisky to them, and then being prevented from telling customers that most of the spirit in the bottle is much older than the youngest constituent of the blend/vatting. It is rather that companies would make whiskies comprised largely of young spirit with small amounts of older spirit (of god knows what quality) and try to leverage the age of the older components to sell it.

At any rate, as I noted on Monday, the grey areas that result from the regulations actually allow companies like Compass Box, as in this case, to allude to the alleged great age of component whiskies without having to reveal them. After all, what is “considerably older” than 3 years old? 6 and 9 yo whiskies are twice and thrice the age; 15 yo spirit would be five times the age; but “considerably older” allows the customer to imagine whatever they want. Compass Box should have sent a case to whoever wrote the regulations.

Okay, let’s see what this nudge nudge, wink wink Clynelish-Talisker blend is like.

Compass Box, Three Year Old Deluxe (49.2%; from a bottle split)

Nose: Honeycomb, wax, a big pile of leaves, slightly damp oak. On the second sniff there’s a fair bit of lemon peel and apple. As it sits the citrus moves towards orange. Continues in this vein. A few drops of water emphasize the sweeter notes here as well.

Palate: Comes in as indicated by the nose but with the citrus emphasized. Some salt too. A good drinking strength; rich texture. Sweeter on the second sip. As it sits the sweetness expands and takes on a metallic/glassy character. With a few drops of water the citrus expands and some peat emerges.

Finish: Long. The salt expands along with the citrus; the oak emerges at the end. More oak with time. As on the palate with water.

Comments: I really liked the nose but neat, it got a bit too sweet on the palate for my liking. Water fixed some of that, even as it made the nose sweeter. The Talisker didn’t really register until I added the water. A good whisky, on the whole, and one I’d happily drink again.

Rating: 86 points.