Review by: The Muskox
This is… not a whisky I thought I’d ever get to try. I have no idea where or how our group got a bottle of this for our Compass Box tasting, or how much we paid for it, but at this point I’m not going to question anything.
This whisky is a little more mysterious than the usual Compass Box blend. The parcels of blended scotch that compose this whisky were both purchased from Gordon & MacPhail, who had no records of what whiskies were actually in there. We can speculate based on what they might have had around in those days (Macallan??), but this is one case where it’s not even a lack of transparency: literally, nobody knows what’s in this whisky.
What is known is that the component whiskies all date from 1980 or earlier (with the vast majority being much older), that it regularly auctions for several thousand dollars a bottle, and that it’s the 4th-highest-rated whisky in the r/Scotch archive. Given the immense hype, it’ll be a wonder if this whisky lives up to its reputation…
This whisky is a vatting of:
- 66% a 40-year-old parcel of blended malt whisky (designated “Glen Calder”, which is not the name of a distillery).
- 34% a 33-year-old parcel of blended scotch whisky.
These age statements only represent the youngest components of each blend parcel. The rest of the whiskies in there are almost certainly older.
Distillery: Various.
Bottler: Compass Box.
Region: Blend.
ABV: 53.4%. Cask strength.
Age: 33-40+ years. Bottled in 2013.
Cask type: Various.
Price: N/A, I don’t want to know nowadays.
Color: Rich gold. Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Nose: It needed some time to wake up, but wake up it did. Obvious age – old books and strong musty cellar. Rich reduced dark fruit notes of plums, peach, blackberry, and fossilized Raisin Bran. Subtle beeswax and honey. There’s a soft herbal heathery quality as well. I wrote “rosemary spritz” in my notes, which I’m not sure is even a real drink. A hint of slightly savoury peat, tobacco, and minerality. As it rests further, fragrant orange, anise, and intense floral richness start to come to the front.
Palate: Rich texture. Surprisingly salty on the arrival, almost bracingly so. Heather honey and wax join in, then summery and tropical fruit notes of coconut, pineapple, lychee, and tangerine. As it develops further it deepens into extremely rich soft old peat, with well-worn leather, dark earth, and a savoury tobacco/seaweed element. More subtle minerality. Bittersweet black cherries and more floral notes on the back end.
Finish: Long and rich. Melancholy old peat. There’s a real juiciness here as the tropical fruit, blackberries, and floral honey return. Dark chocolate.
Possible SMWS bottling name: “Wizard juice”
Conclusion: Yep. It’s stunning. The notes I’ve written down can’t quite capture the sheer richness of the dram, or the depth and deliciousness of the musty old peat, the juiciness of the tropical fruit and blackberries. If Gandalf carried a flask, I’d imagine the contents would taste something like this. The nose is nearly perfect. I love that hit of salt on the palate. The finish is the weakest part of the dram, but it’s still great, and the rest of the experience easily makes up for it. The impressive cask strength of this whisky given its age also makes an enormous impact on its delivery of flavour. I detected no grain whisky at all.
…What on earth could be in here? Brora/Clynelish for the waxiness and salt? Bowmore for the tropical fruit and flowers? Highland Park for the heathery honey and old books? Macallan for the sherried heft? I don’t actually care. I’ve always been a fan of younger fresher whiskies, at least partly due to those being what I can generally afford to buy, but it’s undeniable that well-aged, well-casked old whisky is just a different beast. This is a truly sublime whisky that I’ll almost certainly never be able to afford to try again.
Final Score: 94.
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.
Malt Runners 