Getting Schooled: Compass Box Blended Scotch

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Compass Box blended scotch takes good wood, and marries whisky from all over Scotland to produce expressions that are more than the sum of their parts.

I like learning

There…I said it, loud and proud. Whether it’s towards a degree (and not to brag, I have several), or just a new cooking technique, I just love to learn new things. When I can combine my love of learning with something I’m passionate about (like baking and whisky), I’m especially gratified. That’s why I was so happy to go to the Compass Box blended scotch Whisky School. Let me explain…

When I research a particular lineup for a review post, I generally head to the company’s website and poke around to see if there’s something to learn there. Usually I see information about the distillery’s history and philosophy about what makes their products unique, along with details for their individual expressions. Sometimes they go into more depth about their process, and my favorite sites are the ones that go into depth about the entire whisky-making process (I took you to whisky production class in Back to Basics, remember?).

I like learning about Compass Box scotch

When I visited the Compass Box website, they had a series of videos where their founder and whiskymaker, John Glaser, explained about blending scotch whisky, the importance of wood and cask selection, and how they come up with the different expressions of Compass Box blended scotch. These short yet informative videos do a great job of explaining what is blended scotch and how it’s a unique category of whisky unto itself. Here’s a brief summary of what I learned…

• The importance of good wood…70% of flavor comes from the cask, so the types and styles of those casks are paramount to flavor
• Marrying different types of scotch together is more than just mixing them…it’s blending with specific intent, then putting the mixture back into wood casks to allow the flavors to rest and mature before bottling
• You can use whatever types of scotch that you want to create the new expression, single malt whisky or grain whisky, peated or unpeated, etc…the idea is to enhance the blend by targeting the characteristics you want to feature from each component regardless of what those components are and/or where they are from

There’s a lot more to the videos, and I encourage you to take a few minutes and take them in.

Okay, class dismissed…let’s get to the tasting!

 Compass Box Blended Scotch

At Gordon’s DTX, January 16, 2019

“There are no rules. Simply share and enjoy.” – John Glaser (photo credit: Compass Box)

Have it your way

My favorite takeaway from researching Compass Box blended scotch was that there is no one way to enjoy whisky…neat, with water, with ice, in cocktails, with food, it‘s up to you. Just like how everyone’s palate is unique, how you like to drink scotch is right for you, end of story. I’ve been schooled…so have you!

Slainté! L’chaim! Cheers!

Tammy