Compass Box Great King St New York Blend

@Richard-ModernDrinking and I had a tasting last night where we shared a few drams with each other. Why the heck did Glaser stop making this? It puts the other two Great King St blends to shame. Only about 1200 bottles—-so I’m thankful to Richard for sharing! This rounded up my top 5 for the night ( Macallan from 80s, Ardbeg Drum CE, CB Stranger & Stranger, Smogen Triple we’re ahead of it). Smoky, briny and citrusy—-Laphroaig is at the core. This was amazing. Thanks Richard!

Layers of smoke and cream on the nose and in the mouth, with a long spicy finish. The recipe shows that the peat component is Laphroaig-led, and there's no mistaking it. The other malts include sherry-aged Speysiders and that old Compass Box favorite, Teaninich.

My first attempt at adding a bottle to Distiller. I figure I need to be ready to review it once I created it. I don’t usually like to review something that I have a full bottle of until after I’ve tried it several times, but I was kind of anxious to add a bottle. So, here we go... Most scotch drinkers have certainly heard of Compass Box. They may have also heard of their entry level blends they created several years ago under their London street address: Great King St. The Artist’s Blend and the Glasgow Blend still remain cheap and popular today. This bottle was a limited run that John Glaser created in honor of the American city of New York. The idea sprung from a story in the late 1800’s when a local, New York bartender asked for branded bottles of malt whisky to use for cocktails instead of having to stick with bulk shipped casks that were the norm of the day. By doing so, he was able to acquire some smoked malts along with the typical sweeter malts of the day. This is Compass Box’s tribute to that forward thinking bartender. The specs: 20% of this blend utilizes Lowland grain and the remaining 80% is Highland, Speyside and Islay single malts. About a quarter of the entire blend is made up of heavily peated, Islay malt. Most of the malts used are from first fill American oak, with some refill bourbon and sherry casks thrown in to add some complexity. This bottle was released in the summer of 2012, with a paltry 1,840 bottles available for sale. Rare alert! It’s bottled at 46% and like all CBW whiskies it is natural color and non-chill filtered. The nose is nicely perfumed and sweet. There’s dried orchard fruits in abundance here. The Islay smoke mingles softly and doesn’t overpower anything. The seemingly ever present waxiness from most Compass Box releases is faintly in the background, as well. Very nice on the nose. The palate is velvety smooth. There’s a nice complexity between sweet apples, pears and other hanging fruit. The smoke adds a subtle depth to this that really lifts this bottle closer to some of the more expensive bottle releases that CBW has done recently. There’s an excellent, oily mouth coat that keeps all the flavors hanging around well into the finish. Speaking of finish, it’s not overly long. The heavier than usual mouthfeel keeps the sweetness in place while the smoke rises as you exhale. It’s fantastic. Overall, my initial thought is that this is what CBW’s Lost Blend or This Is Not A Luxury Whisky would be like with a little bit of Peat Monster blended in. I want to give this 4.5 stars. I’m not sure if the $70 I paid for this bottle is simply because retailers have realized this one has disappeared from shelves, and it’s time to capitalize on that, or if this one has been that price all along. If this one was on par with Artist’s and Glasgow blends and offered at $40 initially, then its truly a masterpiece deserving of 5 stars because of price for value. Either way, this is a wonderful blended whisky that proves John Glaser and his team’s brilliance when it comes to blending. If you can find a bottle or a pour at a bar I highly recommend taking the plunge. It’s truly a remarkable dram. Cheers, folks.