A wardrobe of Whisky Blog - tasting notes, collection and best shops for buying whisky online A wardrobe of Whisky Blog - tasting notes, collection and best shops for buying whisky online
Login
“Because you can't buy happiness... but you can buy whisky and that's pretty much the same thing”

Compass Box Twasting with The Whisky Wire

By Miguel in Tasting

Just a few weeks ago Steve Rush from The Whisky Wire invited me to a twasting of one of my all-times favorite whisky: Peat Monster, as well as Great King Street and Spice Tree.

For those of you new to Twitter, a twasting is a tasting driven using twitter.

In this Compass Box Twasting were invited many bloggers: @whiskydrinkeruk @cowfish @peatreekwhisky @dietsch @S_Rob @CocktailEnthus @rodbodtoo @OliverKlimek @galg @whiskytimes @whiskywardrobe @DrinkBritain @mohler @jonmbryant and of course Chris from @CompassBox.

We were offered to taste three great drams from Compass Box range:

Compass Box Great King Street

“A good blended whisky with lots of honey and malt. This is how blended whiskies should be.”

89
Great King Street Artisan Blended Whisky
The first in Compass Box's Great King Street range, named for the address of their Edinburgh office, kicking off their second decade in business. The Artist's Blend is a high malt content blend designed to be easy drinking and appealing to a wide range of consumers, from non-whisky drinkers and cocktail lovers through to single malt fanatics, and is full of Compass Box innovation and flair.
I have enjoyed this blended whisky. So good that I would even buy it to myself.

This dram has a fino-like color.

Nose (90): strong. Malt, honey, citrus, peaches, vanilla, floral, wood, smoke.

Palate (88): light, oily. honey, malt, citrus, spices, wood, almonds, cocoa.

Finish (88): longer than average. floral, citrus, smoke, pepper.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Great King Street Artisan Blended Whisky with 89 points over 100.

Buy this bottle at

Save money when you buy Blended Whisky online. Check for the best prices from best online shops below:


@Cowfish has a small problem with his dram #cbtwasting with a bit of air (like if you throw 1/2 the glass into your lap) there’s toffee apples and tinned pears, along with woody spice and @Galg was finding lots of interesting stuff on the taste GKS palate: Creamy, with a zing of gingery lemon . vanilla custard, and some oriental candy, bits of almonds, pistachios #CBtwasting
Everyone was quite happy about this whisky. Really serious stuff, very well done and with a fair price tag.

Compass Box The Spice Tree

“So much honey on this malt with lots of spices and a long citrus finish.”

90
Compass Box The Spice Tree
The very welcome return of Compass Box's 'Spice Tree', originally barred by order of the officious twerps at the SWA, but now reincarnated after a slight tweak in production technique - and there's nothing they can do about it. Huzzah!
The longer it was on the glass the more spices I found. Really good dram.
And if you want to nose those spices everyone is speaking about, just give it ten minutes on the glass… you will see.

This dram has a amber-like color.

Nose (90): strong. honey, fruits, pepper, cocoa, wood, spices, floral, grass. The more time it is on the glass the more develop the spicy aromas.

Palate (91): smooth, powerful. fruits, honey, spices, wood, pepper, floral.

Finish (90): long. honey, floral, citrus, spices.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Compass Box The Spice Tree with 90 points over 100.

Buy this bottle at

Save money when you buy Blended Malt Whisky online. Check for the best prices from best online shops below:



People were getting into twasting mood. @CocktailEnthus wrote Spice Tree – smells like the holidays.. toffee, chocolate, nutmeg, baked apples and bourbon #cbtwasting and @jbforbes said #cbtwasting SpiceTree – sweet n maltly rich vanilla and all spice with a distinct cinnamon kick to the finish. Great balance and roundness.

Compass Box The Peat Monster

“Superb whisky from Compass Box. This batch was created using malt from Laphroaig and Ardmore although I swear that has a touch of Ardbeg both on nose and taste. Love it”

90
Compass Box The Peat Monster
Compass Box has created a range of incredible artisan vatted, oops, I mean, blended malt whiskies.

This Peat Monster is a top-quality vatting of the peated Speysider Ardmore with some choice Islay malt: sometimes Caol Ila sometimes Laphroaig, Peat Monster is never less than excellent. Pitch-perfect balance and delicious chewy complexity.

This is the best value whisky I have ever had. Even forgeting the price it is a whisky so good that stand over whiskies ten times more expensive. If you like peated whiskies of course :)

It seems this Peat Monster is using a new recipe that is Ardmore+Ledaig+a bit of Laphroaig. Really good dram. I plan to do soon a tasting of this new recipe against the old one but this one is as good as I remembered it.

This dram has a white wine-like color.

Nose (89): more than average. peat, citrus, honey, salt, motor oil.

Palate (90): powerful, oily. peat, earth, honey, citrus, spices, vanilla, wood, coffee.

Finish (90): longer than average. peat, citrus.

So based on other whiskies I have already tasted I rate this Compass Box The Peat Monster with 90 points over 100.

Buy this bottle at

Save money when you buy Blended Malt Whisky online. Check for the best prices from best online shops below:



Finally at the last drams poets started appearing! @dr_whisky said of Peat Monster: Cigarette smoking through a meal of scrambled eggs, scallops, and strawberry cheescake.

Summary

Overall, it was a great night. I was glad to taste again Peat Monster and seen how good it was. Also the biggest surprise was, for me at least, Compass Box Great King Street. Really solid blended whisky with a great nose and taste.

I am really looking forward to the next one.



Write a comment Share your thoughts! comments written.

Your comments