‘How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?’ – Satchel Paige
So, another new whisky from John Glaser and Compass box, after the excellent Spice Tree extravaganza, comes this 3 year old whisky. You got to love compass box and Mr. Glaser for taking old whiskies, and mixing in a wee part of 3 year old whisky, then selling it at over 200 Eur, making it the most expensive 3 year old whisky I’ve seen. most distilleries create NAS whiskies to hide the age of the whisky, and Compass box do the opposite, this is hillarious, and good fun. From first sniff it is clear this is ultra deluxe stuff, and compass box are just saying “In your face! whisky industry!”. HA!
So, clearly this is not a 3 yo, and it contains some older stuff. to be more exact (as far as SWA says is legal) : This whisky is composed of less than 1% three year-old malt whisky produced near the village of Brora (Clynelish distillery), 90% malt whisky of an unstated age from the same distillery and around 9% peaty malt whisky distilled on the Isle of Skye (Talisker, if you wish). Let’s dive in.
Nose: Ahhh. That’s a nice one indeed. Starts waxy as Clynelish go… right? Then more lovely notes of ripe orange, baked apples , honey and a light yet very cool peaty edge, with vanilla creaminess to top it all. Classy stuff.
Palate: nice interplay between Yummy oak (this whisky has some nice age on it. It’s no 3 yo you know …) , fruit (red grapefruit, ripe blood oranges) and more of the baked apples we found on the nose, sprinkle some spices, a touch of Clove,cardamom and chilly pepper with an ashy note that replaces the peat ..
Finish: long,bitter grapefruit pith,ashy peat, dry with citrus notes.
Conclusion:
This is an excellent whisky, and by far one of the better whiskies I’ve tried this year. A true masterpiece of blending by John Glaser, the lovely balance of fruit, peat, wood and how it all blends together is superb. It’s not a cheap whisky (even if it bore a much higher age as it should), but it’s worth getting just for sheer quality and Compass Box’s ‘Chuzpah”, showing the entire whisky industry it’s middle finger, so to speak. I’ve bought one. It’s THAT good.
Score: 91/100
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I’m looking forward to reviewing this one, myself. Can’t wait to taste it. Cheers, Gal. Your reviews are always top notch!
Thank you for the kind words. This is indeed a great whisky. Enjoy. G