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We've talked before about Compass Box'stransparency campaign, and the Three Year Old Deluxe is a brilliant (and very cheeky) extension of that. See, yes, it's a 3 year old whisky (in that the youngest whisky in the bottle is 3yo), but it also only contains <1% of 3yo whisky. A little over 90% is "considerably older" whisky from the same distillery (which we presume to be Clynelish), and the remaining 9% is "peaty malt whisky distilled on the Isle of Skye (which we presume to be Talisker).
Nowhere do they say the age of the older malt, nor the Talisker, but it certainly noses and tastes considerably more complex than three years old...
Compass Box "Three Year Old Deluxe" (49.2% ABV, 3yo, Blended Malt, Scotland, £153.29ex / HK & AU pricing not available)
Nose: Apples, candle wax, sweet tea, oak and cherries.
Palate: Apples, toffee and caramel at first. A slight meatiness, then strawberry short cake. Stewed pears. A few drops of water adds more waxiness.
Finish: Medium length. Residual fruitiness from the palate, but with a slightly tannic oakiness at the very end.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. Excellent - not quite as good as "This is Not a Luxury Whisky", but close. Certainly the most complex 3yo whisky out there!
Compass Box "Spice Tree Extravaganza" (46% ABV, NAS, Blended Malt, Scotland, £76.62ex / HK & AU pricing not available)
"...encourage the industry to consider the absurdity of a system that prevents producers from telling consumers exactly what has gone into the whisky they are drinking."
Pretty hard to argue with that logic. A limited run of 5,922 bottles worldwide, Enlightenment is bottled at 46% ABV, non chill-filtered and at its natural colour. It contains malt whiskies from Clynelish, Glentauchers, Balblair and Mortlach, making it a blended malt rather than a blend.
The Circus, on the other hand, celebrates old parcels of pre-blended Scotch Malt and Grain whisky (married in Sherry butts) that Compass Box recently uncovered, and is said to be a combination that displays magic, "like the very best of circuses". A limited run of 2,490 bottles worldwide, The Circus is bottled at a slightly higher 49% ABV and, like Enlightenment is non chill-filtered and bottled at its natural colour. It contains Malt whisky from Benrinnes and blended Scotch and Grain whiskies from refill sherry butts.
Compass Box "Enlightenment"(46% ABV, NAS, Blended Malt Scotch whisky, one of 5,922 bottles, bottled by Compass Box, Scotland, £49.54)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colour: Light, pale straw. Nose: Candy apples and fresh green apples. So fresh and vibrant. There's a little freshly cut grass, but apple overhwelmingly dominates here (in a good way). I can't recall a recent whisky exhibiting so much apple. Palate: More apples, but dusted with cinnamon. Lots of fresh fruit (pears, apples, lemons) and quite a lot of spice. Very smooth and the ABV feels "just right". Apple pie with a dollop of cream on the side. Finish: Short to medium in length, with cinnamon spice and some orange zest. Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. Really very good. Judging by the fact that 95.7% of the liquid comes from 1st fill barrels, but the colour is so light, I'm guessing most of the whisky is relatively young...but who cares? This is a fantastic whisky and a testament to what a talented blender can produce. This could easily become a go-to summer whisky.
Compass Box "The Circus"(49% ABV, NAS, Blended Scotch whisky, bottled by Compass Box, Scotland, £154.17)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Colour: Orange-brown. Nose: Trademark sherry notes initially, but without any hints of sulphur. Sultanas, nutmeg, dried apricots and some whole oranges. Vibrant, clean, fresh. Palate: Big smooth caramel notes - rich and instantly mouth-filling. Lots of dried fruit, pot-pourri, brazil nuts. There's oak, but it's perfectly in check. There's a big maltiness too. At a guess, there's some pretty old malt whisky in here. Finish: Long, rich, hazelnuts and burnt toast. Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. Another "luxurious", delicious, drink-me-right-now dram from Compass Box. Can these guys do no wrong?
TimeforWhisky.com would again like to thank Compass Box for the generous samples.
Unlike the others though, Compass Box are known for pushing the boundaries - the boundaries of expectation, of flavour, of experimentation, of marketing, and more recently - the boundaries of the UK and EU Law. I'm talking of course about Compass Box's "Transparency Campaign", which Founder and "Whiskymaker" John Glaser explains in this brief video:
In a nutshell, Compass Box would like the laws changed to allow whisky producers the option to better describe the contents of their whiskies, including the ages of all the whiskies that make up a particular whisky.
Currently under EU law, if a whisky chooses to display an age (which increasingly, they don't) the bottle/marketing must only state the age of the youngest whisky in the mix. Which is fine - it's what stops a bottler from filling a bottle with 99% 12yo whisky, 1% 50yo whisky, and calling it a "50 Year old Whisky".
What it doesn't allow though, is whisky producers to state the age of all the whiskies that make up a particular whisky. For example, Balvenie TUN1401 is a NAS whisky that includes some seriously old malts. In some cases, the age of the casks are known, but wouldn't it be nice to list them on the bottle, and even, should Balvenie decide, to list the % makeup of each cask?
That's really all Compass Box are seeking to do here - change the law to allow whisky producers the option to let consumers know more about what's in their whisky. In today's market, with an ever-increasing consumer thirst for knowledge, that just sounds like common sense to us.
Take for example their latest limited release, "This is not a luxury whisky". We know it's a blend, we know it's Scottish, we know it's NAS and we know it's non chill filtered, but wouldn't it be great to know a little more? Luckily, Compass Box have been transparent with us, and told us the whisky is made up of:
79% 19yo Glen Ord malt
10.1% 40yo Strathclyde grain
6.9% 40yo Girvan grain; and
4% 30yo Caol Ila.
How cool is that? Now if the bottle carried a big ** 40 YEARS OLD ** label on the front, we'd have an issue with it, but we think the sort of openness Compass Box are looking to introduce can only be a good thing.
Compass Box "This is Not a Luxury Whisky"(53.1% ABV, NAS, Blended Scotch whisky, one of 4,992 bottles, bottled by Compass Box, Scotland, £124.75)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Designed to make people re-define their definition of "luxury whisky", and remind people that whisky is for drinking. We love the design of the bottle, in particular the cap/closure. No elaborate foil covering here, just a cork and a thin paper strip. It's almost saying "rip out the cork and pour a dram, NOW!"
Colour: Vibrant, deep dark gold. Nose:Oh wow, there's a lot going on here. We've tried some incredible blends in recent months and this absolutely continues that trend. Marzipan, sherbert, lots of rich sherry influence (walnuts, glacé cherries, sherry-soaked raisins) with the slightest hint of peat smoke (which is interesting considering only 4% of the blend is peated, and at 30yo, that peat should be fairly subtle). Palate:A hint of earthy smoke, a lot of sultanas, then citrus-driven Christmas cake. There's a definite sweetness too - icing sugar dusted milk chocolate truffles. Delicious. Finish: Long and sweet. Lemon cream, a little peat smoke which lingers to the very end. Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100. A brilliantly-constructed blend, and testament to John Glaser and the Compass Box team's skill at constructing complex and fantastic whiskies. Is it a luxury whisky? In terms of taste, absolutely. Is it a bottle you should buy and leave on a shelf unopened? No, drink the bloody thing!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A blended malt this time, with Caol Ila making up the majority of the blend. Also non chill filtered with no spirit colouring.
Colour: Light gold. Nose: "Medicinal sweetness" best sums it up. Iodine and milk bottle lollies. Taiwanese pineapple cake and freshly cut grass. Palate: Sweet and juicy peat. Some mocha, lots of milk chocolate, yet still medicinal. I would have guessed there was some Laphroaig in the blend if I didn't know better. There's a slight meatiness too, like an aged, oily piece of Jamón ibérico. Simply excellent. Finish: Long, lingering woodsmoke with an underlying confectionary sweetness - boiled lollies predominantly. Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. Another winner. It's not hard to throw a few Islay whiskies together and produce a blended (or blended malt) Islay whisky, but to produce one with the complexities that this has? That takes skill.
Colour: Very light straw. Nose: Peaches, apricot, pineapple. Tropical fruit peat fest! Palate: Relatively thin, but loads of flavour. Tropical flavours mostly - passionfruit, vanilla cream, sweet, slightly tannic, with smouldering ashes in the background. Finish: Medium to long length - those smouldering ashes to continue to the end, accompanied by a hint of spice. Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 91/100. A nice, easy sipping Islay dram which, whilst not overly complex, is 1) certainly not one-dimension like some other peat-heavy whiskies and 2) a bargain at its price-point.
TimeforWhisky.com would like to thank Compass Box for the generous samples sent all the way from the UK. If you agree with Compass Box's Transparency Campaign, consider adding your support by signing the petition.
