Palate: The mouthfeel is silky and luxurious. The flavors are given a platform to develop and linger, allowing the sipper to explore the aftertaste as well as the actual drink. It has a very light and delicate fruitiness, with ok, peat, and a hint of white pepper. The spice lingers, but is balanced. Fruits hit the middle of the tongue with ripe pear, baked apples, and just a hint of raisin. Nose: Initially spice-driven with some pepper and nutmeg, the nose eventually transitions to lightly salted almonds followed by cotton candy (or candy floss). Bushels of fresh cut honey crisp apple and pear notes really capture the scents that the bottle is named after. Glaser does, however, see “a lot more openness now” when it comes to transparency, particularly with smaller or independent producers.

Fresh and dried apples, honey, malty sweetness, marzipan, baking spice and hints of banana chips, graham. Whiskybase B.V. (“Whiskybase”, “we” or “us”, company details below) offers a whisky enthusiasts online platform that provides its members access to the most comprehensive, transparent and trusted resource of whisky bottles and allows and stimulates its members to contribute information about whisky bottles to the platform (“Service”). I didn’t start this business to make myself a lot of money. I started this business because I love Scotch whisky, and I see a way of bringing Scotch whisky to the world that most other people don’t see. Caelum Capital will give us the foundation to focus on what we’re really good at,” Glaser explains. Range behaviour: Compass Box’s line-up It’s as idyllic as a Zoom tasting could be – held on the autumnal equinox, and John Glaser is sitting in what was to be the last of the summer (or is it autumn?) sun in his garden, chatting us through a momentous new release for Compass Box called Orchard House. Whisky Exploder

Tasting Compass Box Orchard House

Nose: very bright and fruity indeed. Juicy pears and peaches, with hints of grapes, lemons and green apples. Also vanilla and mint, as well as light blossomy touches. Young but vibrant, with a subtle waxy side that hints at Clynelish. In terms of fruitiness this is spot on. This year, Compass Box Experimental Grain Whisky came to market with the aim of blurring the boundaries of the Scotch category. Containing a portion of spirit made from peated malted barley, the 100% malt whisky differs from others because it was distilled in a column still, rather than a pot still. As such, it must legally be defined as a grain whisky in accordance with Scotch regulations. There’s more that we as an industry need to do,” he adds. “The outdated legislation, which prohibits people from talking about the age of anything other than the youngest whisky in a bottle, needs to change. There’s just no logic there, no rationale for keeping it. It’s just inertia on behalf of the industry. Unless, of course, there are companies in the industry who feel that the law protects them from having to disclose everything they have.” Fruit of the land: Orchard House was released last August

Glaser likens what he’s doing to the Song Exploder podcast, where each episode a musician takes apart their song, and piece by piece, tells the story of how it was made. He wants to create Whisky Exploder, and get whisky-makers to take you through the inception and creation of a whisky – you heard it here first. This won’t surprise those of you who are already familiar with Compass Box however, as it’s long been a champion for transparency within the whisky industry. There’s something really extraordinary and compelling, and magical, a deep cultural history that nobody gets, nobody understands. I thought I could bring this discovery to the world by doing it on my own rather than with all the money we had at Johnnie Walker.” The art of making whisky: Compass Box’s Artist Blend London-based Compass Box does both styles of blending. I am generally pulled in by the brand’s attention to detail, and the fact that the blending is done to carefully marry flavors rather than stretch more flavorful malt whisky with milder grain. Much like a jazz musician pulls from the sounds from their band mates when crafting solos, Compass Box approaches their craft with intention and an open-minded palate. Helmed by John Glaser, the creative minds at Compass Box appear to strive for an elevation of established flavor profiles to find their balance in their spirits. This philosophy, in my opinion, tends to delivers a higher quality product. After drinking and thoroughly enjoying Compass Box’s output over the course of the last decade or so, I was beginning to lose a little faith in them when it came to a bit more fresh variety in their core range. Sure, stalwarts like Peat Monster, Spice Tree and Hedonism are great products for the price, but for me, Compass Box seemed to be focusing more on their limited releases rather than introduce something new and vibrant to the range that helped elevate them into the top tier of blenders in the first place.Damak: Damakta da burunda olduğu gibi meyve karakteri belirgin. Elma, armut, şeftali ve limon aromalarına meşe, vanilya, zencefil ve beyaz karabiber eşlik ediyor. 46% derecelik alkol kendini hafif hissettiriyor. The self‐confessed “wine geek and beer home brewer” was not a Scotch whisky drinker at the time – but after being sent to Scotland, Glaser was soon enamoured with the ‘water of life’. Using the base of The Spice Tree to create a Compass Box liqueur (similar to Drambuie), using honey, spices, herbs and vanilla (all supermarket purchasable), we then suggest pairings with other Compass Box whiskies from the core range to bring out different flavour profiles. A great alternative to an Old Fashioned.