Compass Box Eleuthera

Back in 2000, an american man who was living in the UK, resigned his job at Johnnie Walker, because he wasn't happy with the fact that Diageo kept secret the recipes of their blends. He created a company, he gave himself the title of Whiskymaker, and Compass Box was born. That man was John Glaser, and his kitchen was the home of his first blend, one that got lost in time, the COMPASS BOX ELEUTHERA. A perfect blend between Caol Ila and a 15yo Clynelish, Eleuthera got his name from the greek "freedom", which was John Glaser's most important intention: be completely free and transparent about his whisky blends. In 2004, Clynelish stopped making the 15yo malt, and Eleuthera dissapeared. Compass box became one of the most fancy and important names in the Blended Scotch world, but Eleuthera never came back. It came close, when CB released "the Lost Blend", a tribute to this first whisky from "the whiskymakers". Well... i managed to obtain a bottle of the original Eleuthera. Here are my thoughts on it. Bottled at 46%abv, Pale straw color. On the nose, the first aroma was impressive. Green, acid gooseberries. Mango, ashtray. After a couple of sips, it gave me an exact aroma of a fish market. Lemon meringue, fish, lemon pie and a glazed donut. On the palate, it is very salty and fun. Creamy vanilla, gooseberies. There is this salt bomb, a real atomic salt note. Meringue and a salty meat. Aftertaste was amazing. Peppery, sulphur and very salty in a great way. Gooseberries, all the notes are very balanced. Very Astringent. Metallic as a coin. Overall, lets go back to 2000 and talk about what did John Glaser intended to do. It was a good blend between a Highland and an Islay Malt, he accomplished that. This is a very good whisky, and even if nowadays it costs around $1000 (if you find it), the original retail price was around $90, which was an incredible deal for what this whisky is. My score for this mythical dram, full of history, is a very well deserved 89 over 100. Maybe i am been a little rough with the score, because i drank it with friends and all of them said 92 over 100. I'll stick to my score.

Légère déception, manque de structure ! Belle tourbe mais un peu plat

Nose: A fresh and full aroma of crisp peat-reek. Some lemon oil and bacon, burnt matchsticks and soot. Briny notes are present but it's not sea-salt, more like olives or lemon slices preserved in brine. There's a touch of seaweed/iodine and a slight flinty, mineral note. It's a bracing and invigorating nose, like an early morning walk along a cliff path on the Scottish coast, with the scent of wildflowers on the breeze. After resting for a while it blossomed and aromas of tropical fruit and waxy honey glimmered through the peat. [The dry-glass aroma is honeyed soot and ash]. Palate: The arrival is excellent and multi-layered. Semi-sweet, fresh, with complex, evolving smoky notes and a warm spicy/herbal touch (nutmeg and sweet cinnamon particularly). The Clynelish component clearly shines on the palate as it bursts through the veil of Caol Ila smoke. In mid-palate more smoky notes appear, this time with a meaty quality - bacon, smoked cod, smoked roe - however it always retains a dignified and elegant character. There are also some lovely sweet tropical fruits and honey in the wax comb that emerge later, and these sweet notes become more prominent as the whisky opens. The texture is rich, silky, creamy and slightly oily. Finish: Long. Slightly mineral and vegetal but always delicately smoky. There is a sweet, waxy and smoky aftertaste that is quite beautiful and lingers for ages together with a tiny touch of salt. Eleuthera derives from the ancient Greek word for "freedom" and it was an apt name to give this first blended malt produced by Compass Box. It was released from 2001-2003 and comprised 15 year-old Clynelish married to 12 year old Caol Ila. John Glaser clearly knew he was onto something special with this recipe as both of these distilleries have featured in his later blends. When supplies of the irreplaceable old Clynelish component dried up this excellent whisky was retired, but later revived in proxy via the "The Lost Blend" bottling, which was an homage to this whisky. The two are not precisely the same, but similar. The nose is very much a Caol Ila aroma to begin with - reminiscent of the official bottling of Caol Ila 12 year old. It was tight when first opened, after having been locked in the bottle for so long, and it needed an hour to relax. However it was still extremely impressive right from the start and just continued to improve with time. As it rested and opened it became gradually sweeter and more fruity, with the sharper lemon notes blowing away as the Clynelish personality began to dominate the Caol Ila. The palate is a masterpiece of precision blending - John Glaser was staking a lot on his first release and had to make something of a splash, and he succeeded beyond anyone's expectations - probably even his own. This is a delicious palate that unfolds in waves and layers, much the way a very old age statement whisky does, presenting shifting tides of flavour over time. The palate flows effortlessly into the finish, which is of considerable length, body and finesse. Do not add water - this is perfect neat. I was lucky to find this bottle at a small independent liquor shop quite some time ago but it is now rare, expensive and almost certainly only available via auction. However if you can locate a bottle at a price you consider reasonable I'd suggest buying it, as it is a piece of history and more than worth a taste. "Excellent" : 88/100 (4.5 stars)