I am at the end of my week of Compass Box reviews and you’ll be relieved to hear that I’m not closing it out with another release from seven years ago. The last review of the week is of a release from just last year and it was not made as protest against whisky industry regulations. It seems to have some connection to a international bartender conversation called the Circle. This is the Circle No. 2, which implies—if you’re good with the detective work like me—that there was another release before that. And for all we know there may have been one after as well. It’s also different from the Enlightenment and Three Year Old Deluxe in that it’s got a lot more parts to it. While the Enlightenment had malt from four distilleries in it, and the Three Year Old Deluxe had malt from only two distilleries in it, this has malt from five distilleries, as well as a not-inconsiderable portion of blended whisky. About half of it is bourbon cask Glen Elgin and another 17% or so is bourbon cask Speyburn. The remaining 33% is made up of first-fill sherry hogshead Ardmore (2.2%), first-fill sherry butt Teaninich (13.5%), a little bit of wine cask Linkwood (2.3%) and that parcel of blended Scotch, said to be “primarily first-fill sherry butt” (14.3%) . I got all this from Compass Box’s fact sheet, which also tells me that I might know the person who composed this whisky. Let’s hope I like it.

Compass Box, The Circle No. 2 (46%; from a bottle split)

Nose: Slightly dirty sherry (orange peel, a touch of gunpowder) along with a bit of prickly peat and then some brighter fruit (lemon, pineapple) and cereals. Saltier with time and the dirty note heads in a leafy direction. A few drops of water push back the dirty/leafy note and bring out some florals to go with the fruit.

Palate: Comes in pretty much as indicated by the nose minus the dirty sherry. A good bite at 46%; good texture. Some char on the second sip: as to whether the source is peat or oak char, I’m not sure. Fruitier and spicier as it goes, and the salt pops out here as well. Okay, time for water. Less char, less salt with water; more fruit plus some oak spice.

Finish: Medium-long. The char is the top note here, getting slightly bitter as it goes. The salt hangs out a good while here as well once it shows up on the palate. As on the palate with water.

Comments: I quite liked this one. As with the Enlightenment it ends up in a northern highlands profile, but here with clear sherry cask influence. The Teaninich seems to have punched above its weight; and, unsurprisingly, the ~32% from sherry and wine casks has outmuscled the bourbon casks.

Rating: 86 points.