Compass Box “This Is Not A Luxury Whisky”

Review by: The Muskox

This whisky is a callback to my first scotch review, which was Compass Box Oak Cross. Way back in… December 2017, really?… when I was just starting out, I wouldn’t have imagined I’d have kept up the pace I’ve been doing since then. Since that first review, I’ve averaged one published every 1.69 days. I’d like to state at this point that I drink about 5 ounces a week total, so don’t worry.

As always, thanks to everyone who reads these, and to the many, many friends I’ve made from this subreddit.

Anyways. Compass Box’s ‘This Is Not A Luxury Whisky’ is more or less their take on Johnnie Walker Blue. Despite rising prices and ever-increasing shtick, I still believe Compass Box is an important company in scotch whisky, and can pump out some really nice juice to boot.

Distillery: Glen Ord, Strathclyde, Girvan, and Caol Ila.

Bottler: Compass Box.

Region/style: Blended scotch whisky.

ABV: 53.1%. Cask strength.

Blend composition:

  • 79% 19-year-old Glen Ord (first-fill sherry butts)
  • 10.1% 40-year-old Strathclyde (refill American Oak hogsheads) (grain whisky)
  • 6.9% 40-year-old Girvan (refill American Oak Hogsheads) (grain whisky)
  • 4% 30-year-old Caol Ila (refill American Oak hogsheads) Bottled in 2015 at cask strength, yielding 4992 bottles total.

Color: Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.

Nose: Sweet and distinguished. The grain component is very subtle. Stonefruit, pears, dried apples, dates, banana, lime, and lemongrass. Blueberry muffins, maple butter, cream, shortbread, and mild corn. Aged notes of balsamic vinegar, fresh linen, old dusty furniture, leather, and dry wood. Some mellow spices as well – nutmeg, ginger, and vanilla. There’s a whisper of peat way in the back: tobacco, earth, distant ocean, and chlorine.

The peat starts to intensify in time – now there’s a dried meat note, salt, and some seaweed. There’s a rich earthiness now, muddy hay on the tractor-pulled wagon to the apple orchard (memories!).

Palate: Oily texture. Rich stonefruit, lime, and honey up front, developing into black pepper, peat, wax, tobacco, linen. Fragrant tropical fruit, with white chocolate, potpourri, and silky caramel. Fairly spicy in the middle, with a nice warmth from the ethanol as well as flavours of cinnamon and ginger. Hay, pine, and grass, with sweeter green notes, then charred oak, brown sugar, more lime, and candy apples.

Finish: Long and creamy. Brown sugar, toffee, beeswax, potpourri, hazelnuts, baking spices, lemon squares, figs, peaches, and balsamic. Olive oil, then black olives. Tobacco and chili-spiked dark chocolate. Just a hint of bacon and lime.

Conclusion: Wow! I’m extremely impressed. Great complexity, gorgeously balanced, delicious flavours, well-aged but not over-oaked or over-sherried (79% first-fill butts, remember) in the slightest. For only 4% Caol Ila, and really old Caol Ila at that, there’s a lovely smoky element throughout. The grain element is subtle and surprisingly nice. The mix of tropical and orchard fruit, flowers, aged wood, sherry, spices, peat… it’s just outstanding. The palate is thick and luscious, the finish is sugary and floral but complex. As far as comparisons to similar whiskies, this beats the pants off of Ghost & Rare Brora. My score just ticked up and up and up as I drank it. A resounding success from Compass Box.

Final Score: 93.

Scoring Legend:

  • 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
  • 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
  • 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
  • 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
  • 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
  • 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
  • 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
  • 50-59: Save it for mixing.
  • 0-49: Blech.

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