Compass Box Hedonism

Strong nose of vanilla and coconut. Palette reflect the nose with a warm finish. With 3 drops of water the vanilla nose receives some oak undertones. Palette is the same, but with an even hotter finish. I personally prefer this whisky without the water added.

Nice taste and very grainy.

On the nose vanilla, pear, a little lemon, and a bit of ethanol, more than I'd expect for 43%. The palate is actually quite pleasant with vanilla, pear, slight citrus note, a little barrel spice on the finish. Strikes me as like an Irish whiskey, light and easy. Not especially complex, but good enough to sip on and enjoy. I wouldn't buy a bottle at the price this seems to fetch of over a Benji, but I'm grateful to @ContemplativeFox to be able to try this one.

Nose: Crème Brûlée light and fluffy. Vanilla Palete: Vanilla, light with sugary coconut Finish: Warm, surprising depth and medium finish. Well balanced. One of the best blends I’ve tasted.

I purchased this bottle a couple years ago based in part on the Distiller rating--97 points from Stephanie Moreno (who I've already learned isn't too correlated with my palate--which is not a knock on her--see my review on Glendronach Allardice 18 Year). Compass Box and John Glaser are iconoclasts in the scotch industry, and do have a quality ethos (this bottle has no added coloring and is non-chill filtered; reports suggest the various distillates are aged from 15 to more than 20 years). I tried Hedonism a couple times immediately after purchasing and recall being unimpressed, although I didn't write a specific note. That opinion is essentially unchanged. Dried hay color. Hedonism is aged in bourbon barrels, and oaky vanilla is present on the nose (the label screams "RICH * VANILLA * ALLURING" in case savorers couldn't notice), as well as Cheerios cereal and milk chocolate. The palate does have a viscous, glycerin-like quality (again, label: "RICH") with more oak and a touch of white pepper (normal scotch-like 43% ABV), finishing with some light, slightly bitter woody tannins. Distiller is massively off-base with this score. The defining characteristics are the label's "RICH" and "VANILLA" minus the "ALLURING." It's not bad; it's just boring. Scotch has such a wide array of styles, smells, and flavors; and there are dozens of them that are far less monolithic, much more complex, and objectively better than this one. And it gets worse when one considers value: prices today range from $100-130 (I paid about $90 as I recall). That's awfully expensive for rich vanilla with a pedestrian ABV. N.B. All spirits tasted neat in a Glencairn glass.