Brand

Compass Box whiskies

Compass Box is a London whisky house that doesn’t distil: it buys Scotch whisky from different distilleries and creates its own blends with a very careful approach to wood and balance. It was founded at the beginning of this century by John Glaser, an American who had worked in the wine trade. It is known for its designer blends and blended malts, its artistic labels and its campaign for brands to be able to say in more detail which whiskies they use.

Created
2000
Owner
Origin
Scotland
In the catalogue
5 whiskies

History, style and where to startCompass Box official website

5 whiskies

Guide to Compass Box

History

Glaser created the company in 2000 with the idea of treating whisky blending as a creative craft, like a winemaker combining wines from different vineyards. Its first releases attracted attention for using French oak casks and blends with a high share of malt. In the 2010s it led a campaign to change the rules restricting information about the ages of the whiskies in a blend. Over time the house has gained investors, including a large international group, and has grown without losing its independent style.

House style

Compass Box looks for expressive, balanced whiskies, with wood as its main tool. Its blends contain more malt than usual and tend to have notes of vanilla, ripe fruit, spice and flowers. Its smoky blended malts combine Islay malts with Highland malts to achieve intense but rounded smoke. It bottles without chill filtration and without added colouring. Each blend is conceived as a fixed recipe, with limited batches and close attention to cask type.

Average flavour profile of its 5 whiskies in the catalogue

Sweet
3.0
Fresh fruit
2.4
Ripe and dried fruit
0.7
Floral and herbal
1.3
Cereal and malt
1.5
Vanilla and creamy
2.4
Oak
1.7
Spicy
1.9
Toasted
1.2
Smoky
0.8
Maritime
0.5
Body and intensity
2.4

Where to start

Compass Box Artist Blend is the way in: a malt-rich blend, fruity and creamy, that shows a blend can be as interesting as a malt. If smoke appeals to you, The Peat Monster is an intense, balanced blended malt with Islay peat and Highland fruit. Both reveal the house’s idea.

This text was generated and translated by AI and may contain errors. Founding year, owner and official website come partly from Wikidata.

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