Compass Box week ends with another commemorative whisky. I say “another” because both of this week’s other Compass Box reviews were also of commemorative whiskies. Stranger & Stranger (which I thought was nothing very special) was released to celebrate their relationship with the eponymous design company, and Spice Tree Extravaganza (which I liked a lot more) was released to mark an event in company history. Well, this one was released to mark the 25th anniversary of the Chicago whisky bar, Delilah’s. This was released five years after Compass Box’s first release for Delilah’s in 2013 (on the bar’s 20th anniversary). A chunk of the 25th anniversay vatting incorporates a parcel of that earlier release (29%), which had been aged further in a refill hogshead. The rest of the vatting comprises grain whisky from Cameronbridge (10.5%), and malt whisky from Miltonduff (10.5%), Teaninich (20%), an unnamed distillery near Aberlour (15%) and Linkwood (15%). The Cameronbridge and Miltonduff came out of first-fill American oak barrels and the rest from first-fill sherry butts. I’m not sure what it cost on release but I’d be surprised if it was cheap. Well, let’s see what it all added up to flavour-wise. Continue reading
Category Archives: Compass Box
Compass Box, Spice Tree Extravaganza
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. Continue reading
Compass Box, Stranger & Stranger
Alright, after a week of reviews of agave spirits (two mezcals and a raicilla) that no one reading the blog seemed to be interested in, let’s go back to Scotch whisky. Here’s another week of reviews of releases from Compass Box. First up, is one from 2018 that they called Stranger & Stranger. The name is apparently that of the design company they work(ed) with and the whisky was composed to commemorate the relationship. This is a blend of malt whisky with a tiny bit of 1 yo spirit from Girvan (apparently 1% of the whole). The explanation for the odd choice to blend a tiny bit of 1 yo spirit with a lot of malt whisky in a very expensive release (close to $200 in the US) is that Stranger & Stranger’s work is also category-defying. Of course, it also makes for a story of sorts and what is a Compass Box whisky without a story? The malt components are from Glenlossie (recharred hogshead, 80% of the whole), Glen Elgin (recharred barrel, 14% of the whole), and Linkwood (sherry butt, 5% of the whole). Okay, let’s see what it’s like). Continue reading
Compass Box, The Circle No. 2
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. Continue reading
Compass Box, Three Year Old Deluxe
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? Continue reading
Compass Box, Enlightenment
For the first full week of November let’s do a series of reviews of releases from the boutique indie bottler, Compass Box. As you doubtless know, unlike most Scotch whisky indies, Compass Box does not release casks of whiskies from distilleries but their own blends of one kind or the other: vatted malts (or whatever they’re officially called now), blends of malt and grain, all grain whisky: they’ve released them all. They are very popular with the whisky geek corner of the market. I have previously aired my skepticism about aspects of Compass Box’s presentation and appeal to this part of the market. In short, I’ve speculated that their bespoke presentation and facility with the language of whisky geekdom is a large part of their success. The whiskies themselves have often seemed to me to be adjacent to the presentation of them. That said, I’ve liked a number of their releases even as I’ve wondered about the fuss. Enlightenment, released in 2016, was one of their releases about which a fair bit of fuss was made. Continue reading
Compass Box Flaming Heart, 15th Anniversary
I believe this was the 5th edition of Compass Box’s Flaming Heart, released in 2015 to commemorate their 15th anniversary. I’ve had earlier editions of Flaming Heart and quite enjoyed them—I still have one unopened bottle; not sure which release it is, but it was purchased in 2012. Anyway, this edition is said to contain 27.1% 30 yo Caol Ila from a refill bourbon hogshead, 24.1% 20 yo Clynelish from a rejuvenated bourbon hogshead, 38.5% 14 yo Caol Ila from a refill ex-bourbon hoghshead and 10.3% of a 7 yo blend of Highland malts from Clynelish, Teaninich and Dailuaine that came out of some cask with French oak involvement. So officially this is 7 yo whisky for $140 (the price at release) and don’t let the fancy decimal points distract you from that. I kid, I kid: they could easily have left out that 10.3% and asked for even more money for this. That said, I’m not quite as enamoured of Compass Box’s whiskies as many whisky geeks. As I’ve said before, I can never quite shake the feeling that their bespoke presentation and ability to speak in the language of whisky geeks has a lot to do with their reception. That said, I did like the 10th anniversary Peat Monster a lot and I hope this will be in that vein. Let’s see. Continue reading
Peat Monster, 10th Anniversary (Compass Box)
This review commemorates the 2nd anniversary of the release of the 10th anniversary edition of Compass Box’s Peat Monster. The regular peat monster is a bit of a misnomer as it’s not really much of a peat monster—it’s certainly not in Ardbeg Supernova or Port Charlotte or Octomore territory. Nonetheless, it’s quite beloved of whisky geeks. As I’ve noted before, I’m never sure how much of the love thrown Compass Box’s way is on the merits of what they bottle and how much a mix of a love of the idea of Compass Box and/or an appreciation of their laudable transparency about their recipes and processes (at least until the Scotch Whisky Association recently slammed them for it)—I’m sure the bespoke packaging and quirky names help too (as does the fact that John Glaser seems like a very genial gent).
Anyway, my hit rate with them is not as good as their reputation would suggest. I did not care for the widely loved Hedonism and thought Great King Street was just okay; I did like Eleuthera though. Calibrate your opinion of my review of this one accordingly. Continue reading
Compass Box, Great King Street
Compass Box seem to have the whisky geek version of “most favoured nations” status but try as I might I have not yet come across an expression from this innovative bottler that to my palate has matched its reputation, story or stylish presentation (though I did like the Eleuthera). I should say in advance that this is also true of this bottle of Great King Street (which is a blend of single malt and grain whisky). I opened this as well for our local whisky group’s June tasting and it wasn’t just my lowest whisky of the night, it was pretty much everyone’s—and everyone but me was tasting everything blind. As with all their whiskies, it does have a nice label and an evocative name. Unlike most of their whiskies it’s at 43%.
Compass Box, Great King Street (43%; from my own bottle)
Nose: Mild sweet fruit (apples mostly) and a light grassy note. With more time there’s some soft, buttery oak and some cream. With more time there’s some citrus mixed in with the sweet fruit. Continue reading
Compass Box, Hedonism
Following yesterday’s review of the Eleuthera, one of Compass Box’s vatted malts, here is the Hedonism, which may be the only all-grain blend they’ve released (at least in general release). I’ve not had too many Scotch grain whiskies, and those only much older single grains, which is a category that seems to be picking up steam among whisky geeks these days. The Hedonism also has old whisky in it and as per their site it’s all from 100% first-fill American oak barrels and/or rejuvenated American oak hogsheads. As they specify barrels and hogsheads this would imply that they’re ex-bourbon (sherry is also matured in American oak casks–European oak is used primarily during storage and shipping*–but in much larger butts or puncheons).
*This is something I learned recently from my friend Rich who visited a number of sherry bodegas in Spain earlier this year. Continue reading
Compass Box, Eleuthera
Compass Box, run by John Glaser, are a well-known and highly regarded independent bottler of blended and vatted Scotch Whiskies. They have released a number of vatted malts (this Eleuthera, Flaming Heart, Spice Tree, the Peat Monster etc.) as well as grain-malt blends (Asyla, Great King Street), a blend of grain whiskies (Hedonism), plus some experiments (Orangerie–an infused whisky). The Eleuthera, which is discontinued, is said to be a blend of 15 year old Clynelish and 12 yo Caol Ila; but the language on the Compass Box website suggests that these may not have been the only whiskies in the various releases before it went away. (“Typically it combined 15 year-old malt whisky from the village of Brora, aged in re-charred hogsheads, with 12 year-old malt from the village of Port Askaig.” [emphasis added])
Compass Box’s blends have a higher profile among whisky geeks than most blends; frankly, while I’ve liked all the ones I’ve tried fine, none have overly impressed me. They do have a very bespoke presentation and Glaser is both engaging and very transparent with his methods, and so I always want to like their whiskies more than I do. Let’s see if this Eleuthera will live up to the hype. Continue reading