Compass Box Glasgow Blend

Smokey

Compass Box isn't a brand they carry in the FW&GS in my state, but I can get it when I go to Jersey. Last Sunday, my wife suggested an impromptu trip to the OC boardwalk to eat pizza, curly fries, and ice cream and shop the stores with the kids, but my real treat is stopping at Circle Liquors on the way out of town to pick up bottles I can't get at home. This go-around I nabbed the New Riff Sour Mash Single Malt 7 Year (FW&GS sells New Riff, but only the BiB Rye and Bourbon and Single Barrels of each), which I haven't cracked yet, and this one, Compass Box's Glasgow Blend. I've only had the Peat Monster previously, which I enjoyed but don't consider a re-purchase because for its price I can get Ardbeg 10 or Laphroaig 10, which are both superior. My whisky budget was kind of tapped out for this month by the time I hit Circle Liquors or I might have picked up Compass Box's Artist's Blend, which is a similar price to this at $34.99, and I'm kind of wondering why I didn't. After all, at $34.99, I'm going to dabble with anything peated and while I'm scoring this a 3.25 overall. I can't call it a letdown. It's not the most amazingly complex whisky you'll encounter, but the price tag should have clued you in on that. Blended scotches can be really good, just ask anyone who has tasted Johnnie Walker Green, and this one, for its price, has quite a nice nose. It's listed as being finished in Oloroso Sherry Casks, but there's only a slight trace of sherried sweetness in the aroma. Mostly it's cured meats, bacon fat, sea salt. I'm not sure what they used for the component parts but it's got a character between Ardbeg and Talisker leaning more toward Talisker. And the nose is really the high point here, so enjoy it if you're pouring yourself a dram. The flavor is nice, warm, gentle. There's peat, but there's also vanilla, sea salt, and butterscotch (which I believe is where my brain goes when something tastes like "toffee pudding" which is how I guess what I'm tasting is described on the bottle) though of course, here, when I say butterscotch, I don't mean the hard candies your grandma handed out but the icing on the Krimpet bearing that name from TastyKake. If that sounds good, it is, but the mouthfeel is a little watery at 86% abv. And oh, I just found the fact sheet while I was writing this, it's on the site at Compass Box, and the peated mixture comes from Laphraoig and Clynelish, so I was WAY off. Oh well, I'll admit it here. Still, it's flavor profile is pretty enjoyable. Where this tasting falls off is the finish which is so short as to be next door to nonexistent. Oh well, what do you expect from a $34.99 bottle of blended scotch? It's solid for what it is, and if you expect that headed in, you won't be let down. Overall, I'm not sure I'd buy this one again, but I'll enjoy the botttle, and I am likely, given the quality here, to give the Artist's Blend a go when I'm back in Ocean City.