Compass Box whisky’s first ever bottling was ‘Hedonism‘ a blend of single grains which was back then quite unique (and is quite unique these days as well). A lot of water flowed in the rivers of bonnie Scotland since then, and here we are with a brand new special release of Hedonism, this time called ‘the muse’.
This one’s different in terms of formula and contains a very interesting vatting of single grains from Invergordon,North British,Strathclyde,Port Dundas from various ages and various casks, it required quite a bit of blending work as you can see (see chart) :
John Glaser describes this whisky:
When we recently discovered a cask of exceptional aged grain whisky of unknown origin in the spectrum of flavors of a Hedonism whisky, we were inspired once again to go back to where
it all started. This time, the label design re-imagines the woman portrayed at the center of all our Hedonism labels – the first woman, as far as we know, ever to feature on a Scotch whisky label.
One more interesting thing is the label which features a women : The label has been specially created to celebrate women in whisky. I was surprised too, but as it happens women make up the majority of the team at Compass Box, and it’s thought that the original Hedonism label was the first whisky label to feature a woman.. So, very nice stuff, and a nice homage.
Let’s get on with the tasting:
Compass Box Hedonism, The Muse, NAS, 53.3% , £240 (MOM)
Nose : vanilla heaven with a sweet honeyed touch, very buttery and rich.. A certain nutty or almond touch as well, maybe marzipan dough.
Palate : oily, thick and viscous and quite sweet and soft, with milk chocolate, vanilla, soft pepper and clove, with time toffee notes are also revealed with drying toasted oak.
Finish : chocolate, wood and spice,vanilla.
Summary:
This is a tasty whisky, well made and highly enjoyable, it’s a nice variation from the original Hedonism. For me it’s a liquid grain sweet, it’s quite hedonistic and the name really befits it, while there’s depth indeed , there’s not enough ‘old wood’, as I was expecting. Older grains are wonderful, and this one’s special but at almost 250 quid, I was expecting a bit more from CB… At any rate, it’s wonderfully rich, rewarding and for CB fans, it’s a whisky to be had, No doubt. (if your budget allows). VFM wise, It is not very high on my VFM list, I can think of many single grains / malts that offer a slightly better VFM ratio…
Score: 88/100