Compass Box week continues. On Monday I had a review of their Stranger & Stranger, which I thought was decent but nothing more (and not at all a good value for the high price charged for it). Today I have a review for you of their Spice Tree Extravaganza. This was a limited edition take on their regular Spice Tree release, which had a slightly checkered history, having run into problems with whisky regulations and going off the market for a few years before coming back. Despite it having come back, however, Compass Box saw fit to mark the 10th anniversary of its original discontinuation with this release in 2016. It’s put together in a complicated manner. The vatting comprises sherry butt Glen Ord (32.6%), sherry butt Benrinnes (17.2%), bourbon barrel Allt-A-Bhainne (2.6) and the rest a vatting of Clynelish, Dailuaine and Teaninich that was vatted and matured further in three different toast/char levels of what they call their hybrid casks. You could call this a case of great transparency with their cask regimen—and at one point in my whisky geek career I would have saluted it; I have to admit I now find it mostly tiring to keep track of all this granular detail. Anyway, let’s see what it’s like.

Compass Box, Spice Tree Extravaganza (46%; from a bottle split)

Nose: Some sweet apple off the top along with some richer sherried notes (raisins, orange peel). On the second sniff there’s some toffee. With time the muskier fruit begins to show up on the nose as well. A few drops of water pull out some more of the toffee along with some brown butter but it’s thinner on the whole.

Palate: Comes in with spicy oak (cinnamon, cloves, powdered ginger) and then there’s a nice burst of musky fruit as I swallow. Good drinking strength; rich texture. Continues in this general vein, picking up some bitter oak with time. Okay, let’s see what water does for it. It brings out a metallic bitterness and washes out the fruit.

Finish: Long. That burst of fruit (nectarine, pineapple) continues for a good while, getting sweeter as it goes and picking up a nice oak frame. The oak builds as it goes, getting spicier (and just a little bit tannic). As on the palate at first with water, and less spicy, but the fruit returns again at the end.

Comments: A very nice whisky, perfect for winter drinking. I may have added too much water but I preferred it without.

Rating: 87 points.