Compass Box The Entertainer

This is an exclusive bottling for Selfridge's, a UK luxury department store started by Harry Gordon Selfridge and the only retailer of the 1,000 bottles produced in this vatting. Born in Wisconsin, Selfridge was a retail magnate who took a shine to the shady end of Oxford Street in London, starting his eponymous chain of stores in 1906. Although the Great Depression ---partially aided by his gambling addiction and poor budgeting skills--- claimed Selfridge's fortune (and many single malt distilleries in Scotland, incidentally), the chain continued on to establish a reputation for curated selections and for the beautiful architecture of its locations. Honoring the chain's legacy and luxury, The Entertainer harkens back to the blends of the 1920s, when blended Scotch contained a greater, sybaritic proportion of malt whisky than grain whisky. Accordingly, this bottling contains 75% malt from the Highlands, Islay, and Speyside married with 25% grain whisky from the Scottish Lowlands. The whisky spends its primary maturation in first-fill bourbon barrels, before being transferred to heavily toasted virgin French oak barrels, for which blender John Glaser seems to have a (totally justified) affinity. Bottled at 46% ABV, this whisky, as with all of Compass Box's offerings, is non-chill filtered and contains no added coloring.