Compass Box Artist Blend Whiskey 750ml

Compass Box was founded in 2000 by John Glaser, an American entrepreneur who previously worked as a marketing director at Johnnie Walker before setting out to build an independent whisky company of his own. Rather than distilling its own spirit, the company sources whiskies from established Scotch distilleries and blends and matures them further under its own direction, an approach it pairs with unusually detailed transparency about exactly which distilleries and cask types go into each release. Artist Blend, part of what was originally the Great King Street range named for the street housing Compass Box's Edinburgh office, was conceived as a tribute to the city's long history of painters, writers, and performers, as well as to the 19th-century blenders who first combined malt and grain whisky into something greater than its parts.

Artist Blend carries an unusually high proportion of malt whisky for a blend, at around 55%, built from Clynelish and Balmenach malts aged in first-fill bourbon casks, Linkwood malt split between bourbon barrels and rare Palo Cortado sherry-seasoned butts, and a smaller portion of Highland blended malt matured in French oak. The remainder is single grain whisky from Cameronbridge, aged in first-fill bourbon barrels. The finished blend is bottled at 43% alcohol by volume.

The nose offers baked apple, vanilla cream, and honeycomb, lifted by soft citrus and gentle spice. On the palate, orchard fruit and barley sweetness meet custard and light oak, with a whisper of soft peat smoke adding depth underneath. The finish is sweet and spiced, closing on warming clove and cinnamon over a drying, woody character. It performs equally well neat or built into a simple highball cocktail.