Compass Box – Spice Tree Extravaganza

It has been quite a while since i posted the last tasting notes (vacation you know – later on that), and It was very nice arriving home to find two very interesting new releases from Compass Box. The first one I am going to review is this Spice Tree Extravaganza, which is an older , higher end version which takes its name from the well known original  Spice Tree expression, the exact one that was banned by the SWA, after Compass box have decided to use charred wood staves inside the casks, which were deemed “illegal”…  if this is the first time you’ve heard about that, hop on to the CB site and read all about that …

This time there are some older components , and the sherry cask percentage is much higher. CB can not reveal the ages of the whisky inside (SWA do not allow it), but they could disclose some details about the whiskies inside:

Glen Ord – unknown period in a first fill ex-Sherry Butt – 32.6%
Benrinnes – unknown period in a first fill ex-Sherry Butt – 17.2%
Allt-a-Bhainne – unknown period in a refill American Standard Barrel – 2.6%
Highland Blended Malt* – unknown period in a light / medium toast Hybrid Cask – 27.7%
Highland Blended Malt* – unknown period in a refill Hybrid Cask – 4.3%
Highland Blended Malt* – unknown period in a heavy toast Hybrid Cask – 15.6%

* composed of 60% aged Clynelish, 20% aged Dailuaine and 20% aged Teaninich, re-casked and matured for another four and a half years. With any luck, I might be able to update these last facts with ages any time soon.

Compass Box Spice Tree Extravaganza , 46% abv , £76 

Nose: Ah, this is good stuff, with quite a lot of sherry influence (although not a sherry bomb), cherries, berries and ripe plums, with a nice touch of orange marmalade, spices (some anice, cloves, hint of cinnamon and maybe ginger powder), old style boiled sweets, it’s rich and spicy and that’s very nice.

Palate: Rich and sweet, with Demerara sugar, zingy ginger, cloves, and white pepper, with a nice creamy feel to it, the sherry component is obviously very dominant, and is adding a lovely layer of sweetness and fruit to the ‘regular’ spice tree profile. quite delicious, and well integrated. 

Finish: Apple Cinnamon pie, cardamom, clove and some berries. Lovely, sweet, and long.

Excellent stuff from Compass box, as can be expected. This is a much richer, sweeter version of the spice tree, and the use of sherry is just lovely. Delicious. My Advice: Buy.

Score: 89/100