I approached John Glaser of Compass Box Whisky if he would debut a whisky for us at WhiskyFest during the seminar program, and he agreed. A few days later he came to me with this idea:

For our New York WhiskyFest slot on Saturday at 9:15 am, I would like to unveil a special, limited release Great King Street blend, inspired by and made just for New York City.

To help me present it, Dave Wondrich (world renowned mixologist, cocktail historian and Whisky Advocate columnist) will join me. I’ll introduce the whisky and we’ll taste it with the attendees.  Then, Dave will present the new blend used to make a classic morning cocktail from the 1890s, Harry Johnson’s Morning Glory cocktail.  According to Dave, this is one of the earliest known Scotch-based cocktails.

This is why the 9:15 am Saturday slot is perfect for us!

John, since the beginning of the development of Great King Street, I’ve been thinking about creating Great King Street blends over time for different places, different cities or regions or countries (inspired by Scotch blenders of old, and a passage in Whisky by Aeneas MacDonald).  In particular, I’ve been thinking for a while now about creating a blend for New York City.

And as I believe you know, a key part of the mission behind Great King Street is to enlighten whisky enthusiasts to new ways to enjoy their favourite drink.  An historical and arguably intellectual approach to enjoying Scotch whisky in cocktails (in morning cocktails!) as part of the new WhiskyFest format is ideal!

And this is just the first 15 minutes of the program! Wait until you see what we’ve got lined up the rest of the day. Details to follow.

Cocktail for breakfast anyone? Here’s how you can join us.

Rather than staying with the predominant concept of blending whisky, marrying single malts with grain whisky (which he indeed does quite well), he has expanded the art to more unfamiliar territories (and perhaps more uncomfortable territories, when it comes to the consumer). For example, he produced a blend of only grain whiskies (Hedonism), blends of only malt whiskies (Flaming  Heart, Peat Monster), and also tinkers with whisky infusions (Orangerie).

To celebrate Compass Box Whisky’s tenth anniversary, he created this next generation of Flaming Heart. Always a blend of single malt whiskies (i.e., no grain whisky) and always laden with a good dose of peat smoke, this third Flaming Heart release (and second to make it to the U.S.) is his best one yet. The reason why? Balance and complexity.

Flaming Heart (3^rd edition) is a marriage of seven different distilleries from three distilling regions (Highland, Islay, and Island) aged in both American and French oak casks. It demonstrates the advantage of marrying whiskies from more than one distillery. It’s vibrant, with a complex array of fruit (orchard fruit, sultana), sweetness (light toffee, marzipan, honeyed malt), spice (creamy vanilla, mocha, warming pepper), smoke (tar, smoked olive, coal), and lesser notes of toasted almond and beach pebbles. There’s more smoke and tar on the palate than the nose, yet THEY ARE always in balance. A classic, smoky blended whisky!

Our “Scotch Whisky Single Malt of the Year” will be announced tomorrow.

Compass Box Flaming Heart (10th Anniversary bottling), 48.9%, $105

I like this version (the third Flaming Heart release and second one brought to the U.S.) better than the last one imported here. I love the balance on this one, all the way through to the finish. (For more information on this expression of Flaming Heart, here’s the fact sheet from Compass Box.)

Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 95

Congrats to John Glaser and the rest of the crew at Compass Box Whisky. Let’s all toast to their continued success tomorrow by raising a glass of one of their fine whiskies. (Mine will be a wee dram of the new Flaming Heart which, by the way, is wonderful.)

Scotch Whisky: Blend of the Year

Compass Box, “The Peat Monster,” 46%, $60

John Glaser, the creator of Compass Box whiskies, has been one of the most progressive and innovative whisky “blenders” in this generation. Some of his creations consist entirely of grain whiskies. Others are more “traditional” and combine grain whiskies with malt whiskies. But he also masterfully creates blends exclusively from only malt whisky (which has been referred to in the past as “vatted” whisky). The Peat Monster is just that: a blend of malt whiskies.

The formula for this whisky has changed slightly since its inception—and I think for the better. They’ve added some Laphroaig into the mix of Caol Ila and Ardmore. This whisky demonstrates the layered complexity that can be achieved by marrying whisky from different distilleries—and different regions.

I particularly enjoy the rich maltiness and oily texture that provide firm bedding and flavor contrast to the classic Islay notes—tar, boat docks, brine, smoked olive, seaweed, and kiln ash. More subtle cracked peppercorn, mustard seed, and citrus fruit add complexity, leading to a long, warming finish. It’s amazing how a small change in composition can significantly benefit the overall flavor profile of a whisky. If you love smoky whiskies, then you must try The Peat Monster.

Tomorrow’s Malt Advocate Whisky Awards announcement: Scotch Whisky: Single Malt of the Year.

I have been very vocal about wanting to see something new from Maker’s, and it looks like I’m going to get my wish. In fact, he’s sending me a review sample!

Here’s the scoop on this new whiskey. According to Kevin, their desire is to produce a whiskey that’s still in the Maker’s Mark style, but with more intense flavors. After doing some research on different options, they have settled on enhancing the whiskey’s flavor with toasted oak staves.

Using oak staves is not new to whiskey. Compass Box used toasted oak staves when aging their whiskies for The Spice Tree whisky. (That is, until the Scotch Whisky Association found out about it. Now he’s using toasted oak barrel heads.)

Basically, they are taking Regular Maker’s Mark out of the barrels and into the receiving tank like they would normally do. But instead of sending the whiskey to the bottling line, they insert toasted oak staves into the original barrels and then put the bourbon back into the barrel for several month of additional aging.

The new whiskey hasn’t come out yet. In fact, they don’t even have a name for it. (For the time being, it’s just Maker’s Mark Profile #51.) Will it be a regular item? That’s the plan.  Kevin said he likes the flavor profile of this new whiskey at 94 proof, and that’s probably what the whiskey will be bottled at.

I should have my review sample by Friday at the latest, so stay tuned!

Compass Box “The Spice Tree”, 46%, $65
The second generation of The Spice Tree. (This new expression sports a much larger tree image on the front label.) While the first bottling used inner French oak staves to impart an additional oak influence, this one uses French oak barrel heads. This new bottling is also bolder, displaying more oak —there’s more dried spice notes and it’s more viscous and clinging on the palate. (It’s also less elegant than the original bottling.) Notes of sticky toffee, vanilla fudge, bramble, and red currant give way to oak resin, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and subtle lemongrass. A tactile, somewhat resinous, polished leather finish wraps it up. A nice whisky, but to be completely honest, I really enjoy the subtler, more elegant nature of the original bottling better.

Advanced Malt Advocate magazine rating: 84

The Second Coming
First launched in 2005, we were forced to discontinue production under a legal threat by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) for our pioneering use of the highest quality French oak inner staves. This, despite rave reviews from consumers, trade and press. We agreed to disagree with the SWA and halted production (for the full story, see
www.compassboxwhisky.com).

Over the past three years we have developed a new maturation process which yields similar if not superior results to our previous method, and this new process is something the SWA can’t take any issue with.

The Whisky & The Method
As in the past, The Spice Tree is 100% malt whisky sourced from northern Highland distilleries, (notably and primarily malt whisky distilled at the Clynelish distillery). The primary maturation is in a mix of first-fill and refill American oak.

What is different is the secondary maturation. Rather than using inner stave inserts, as we did for the original Spice Tree, we rack the whisky into barrels with heavily toasted new French oak heads. We have created a method for getting a super heavy toast on the cask heads which imparts a flavour profile similar to the flat staves used for the original Spice Tree. We use oak with three different levels of toasting on the barrel heads, thus allowing us to blend the resultant whiskies to create additional layers of complexity. This secondary maturation lasts as long as two years.

The Spice Tree is a very rich malt whisky, suitable for after dinner sipping, as an accompaniment to certain cheeses, and especially, in cocktails.

Flavour Descriptors
Big, sweet aromas of clove, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. The palate is full, round and sweet, with the spice and vanilla complementing the core distillery characters and leaving a long finish.

Recommendations
Its rich, bold flavours make it most suitable for after-dinner sipping, as an accompaniment to certain cheeses, and ideal in cocktails.

Distillery Sourcing
Sourced entirely from northern Highland single malt distillieries, primarily the distillery in the village of Brora.

Wood
Primary maturation: first-fill and refill American oak. Secondary maturation: custom barrels with heavily toasted new French oak heads sourced from 195 year-old Vosges forests.

Bottling Details
Bottled at 46% alcohol by volume. Natural colour. Not chill filtered.

John Glaser, Whiskymaker

Thank you John for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us. For all of you who read his blog, feel free to comment.

A few weeks ago I was invited by new friends Sam and Fairfax to see the still they’d just installed in their new office in London.  

Sam and Fairfax are planning to start a distillery restaurant in London, making their own gins, vodkas, and who-knows-what-else, but before finding their restaurant site, they plan to install their still and begin working it. 

I hadn’t been to their office before, so the morning of the visit I checked the address.   Twenty-seven Nasmyth Street.  That sounds familiar, I thought.  Isn’t that the street in Hammersmith where Michael Jackson used to live?  I checked my address book and sure enough, that was the exact address of Michael Jackson’s old office, next door to the house where he lived.

When I showed up I was amazed, actually a little emotional.  Sam and Fairfax had moved into Michael Jackson’s old office and installed a still.  How perfect, I thought, for the legacy of the industry’s great man.

Michael would have been pleased meeting two guys like Sam and Fairfax regardless of where they set up shop.  That’s because Sam and Fairfax represent an important new wave in the spirits industry, one moving across the globe.  They represent the small businesses, the small brands that are moving the spirits industry closer to its artisan roots.  I’ve been travelling around the world for Compass Box for many years, and I can tell you that more and more, around the world, there is a cultural shift toward an interest in understanding more about distilled spirits.  People want to know the people behind the businesses and brands, the stories, the processes and the techniques.

As a whiskymaker, I am excited and pleased to see the growth of small distilling businesses.  Just in the last month, in addition to visiting Sam and Fairfax, I’ve been in touch with my friend Henric Molin on the island of Hven, Sweden, who has recently started distilling after many years of planning.  (He’s selecting individual trees from America for his casks!)  I’ve spoken with Jean Donnay in Brittany in France who is preparing to release his first own-distilled whiskies.   I had a fellow from New Zealand come to my office last week to talk to me about his plans for a small whisky distillery in his country. 

And of course, in the US there is an explosion of activity among small scale distillers.  Being an American abroad, I’m excited about this and sometimes wish I were home taking part.

All of this is all driven by the increased interest people around the world have in the art and craft of distilled spirits.  This is real, and it’s growing (big branded spirits take note!  …Or perhaps not; just let us get on with things!).  I recently had a call from a bartender in London, re-writing his spirits list, and he wanted to know every conceivable detail about our whiskies–not just the distilleries we draw from, but the water source we use to dilute at bottling!

It’s a grand cultural shift, a new wave, and it’s global.  With time, we all stand to benefit by having more choices and more interesting choices when it comes the spirits we drink.  Sam and Fairfax, in Michael Jackson’s old office, are at the leading edge of this movement in the UK.  (In fact, they have been instrumental in shaping UK legislation in this area which I am sure will help open the floodgates for new, small distilleries across the UK in the coming years.) 

Their business is called Sipsmith.  They begin distilling this month.  They’re still working on their website but check back at www.sipsmith.co.uk .   Small artisan businesses, operating in an industry dominated by mega corporate brands, need and deserve our support.  The more businesses there are like Sam’s and Fairfax’s, the more interesting and rewarding spirits offerings will be, and we will all benefit in the long run.  

Michael would be proud.