Compass Box The Lost Blend

Nose - Clean apple juice, gentle ashy smoke, lemon zest, light graphite, honey Taste - Black pepper heat/tingle, lemon, gentle clean smoke, lemon zest, honey, apple/pear cider, a bit thin but also oily Finish - Lingering gentle tingle, lemon zest, gentle ashy clean smoke, hint of metallic vibe, sweet apples Score - 85/100 Final Thoughts - This is a very tasty blend, nothing too terribly off putting other than the brief hint of metallic vibe I get on the back end of the palate the continues to the finish. Feels a bit thin overall, but has a hint of an oily texture which seems a bit contradictory but that's what it feels like. The smoke is very subtle on the nose and only makes a grand entrance on the palate. I get waves of classic Caol Ila in that it's a super clean peat/smoke, but has nice hints of lemon/lemon zest all over. A nice fairly easy sipping blended malt that's primarily ex-bourbon so it really does put the characteristics of all 3 distilleries spirit on display. Would I drink it if offered? - Yes Would I specifically order it? - Maybe Would I buy a bottle? - Not at the price it's at NOTE - All reviews are done without factoring in price.

Back in 2001 when Compass Box founder John Glaser abandoned Johnnie Walker to create his own blends, he started his journey with a blended malt called "Eleuthera". Two years later, one of the components was lost forever. John Glaser, in 2004 after reading an O'Henry tale called "The Lost Blend", (where two bartenders created a supernatural blend with special powers); he decided to create a blend that mimics that first Eleuthera, and he called it "The Lost Blend". He even designed 3 different labels and a very interesting box, which is full of pictures of "lost" objects, some lost in time, other extinct. This Blended Malt, is made with Clynelish, Alt-a-Bhainne and Caol Ila. Bottled at 46%abv., pale straw color. On the nose, fairly peaty. Very maritime, salt, sea. Chocolate with salt, lemon. After a first sip, the aroma changed into a pond, rainforest profile. Recently cut wet grass, permanent marker. A metallic one cent coin. On the palate, a good mixture between sweetness and peaty flavors. Chocolate, pepper, sulphuric and metallic. Wet grass, vanilla. Aaftertaste is balanced. Salty, sulphuric, metallic. Ginger and hay. Cigarrette, ashy. Overall, this expression mantains my love/hate relationship with Compass Box. I really think that Caol Ila overpowered the other malts, this could be a single malt from that Islay distillery and nothing else. I feel the blending failed a little here, and it didn't surprise me at all. Other people in my tasting event loved it, but this really didn't do much for me. Not bad at all, just not my favorite. My score for it is 84 over 100.

Loved this dram. Sweet, rich fruit wrapped in smoke and light peat. I only had a sample of this but would certainly seek out a bottle if I could. Delicious!

Nose - sweet peat, smoked meat, pear, baked apple, apricot, cinnamon, honey, toffee, creamy vanilla, coconut, waxy lemon, sweet floral notes, cocoa, fig, orange zest, hay, light oak, black pepper, strawberry, mint, oat, moderate ethanol burn. Taste - smoked meat, sweet peat, orange zest, ginger, chili pepper, cinnamon, black pepper, waxy lemon, milk chocolate, apple, pear, honey, toffee, mint, coconut, creamy vanilla, oat, moderate alcohol bite, finishing medium long with meaty peat, citrus zest, toffee, and pepper flavors. The nose is a beautiful combination of sweet smoke and creamy, fruity toffee. Everything is very well integrated with a rich, not grainy, maltiness. The palate is similar, but the arrival hits with a flash of deep, smoky citrus and tingly pepper before mellowing with a creamy, oats and honey vibe. The finish fades slowly with the dominant flavors lingering pleasantly for at least a minute. Now this is a good blend. It’s easy to tell there’s some age on the components. I can’t say whether it’s better than the sum of its parts, but the characteristic smoky, meaty Caol Ila and fruity, waxy Clynelish both shine through nicely. Unfortunately, this lives up to its name and the prices have transcended into secondary market insanity. I would absolutely buy this at the original $125 retail price. Definitely not at today’s prices. Another big thank you to @jonwilkinson7309 for providing the sample. This one is really nicely done.

Que c’est bon, superbe tourbe, équilibré parfait, bois vanille fumée ! C’est top

First dram: it’s good. Nose was pretty quiet as it’s a new bottle. Taste was full and creamy, then peat, then fruity, floral. Good finish with a full body and decent peat. It’s gurd. This could be my favourite. It has a beautifully balanced nose. A gentle peat, floral, fruit, creamy toffee. It quite reminds me of a sweet moscato. The palate is just as good. Quiet peat on the entry, which gets quickly replaced by a juicy character. Pears, white grapes, juicy green apple. It’s like a watermelon Jolly Rancher. Waxy, green apple finish. Unbelievably good. I rarely enjoy this because it saddens me to see the fill level retreating. Last dram ???? First, a slight smoke, like the remnants of last night’s fire. Then you start to get waxy lemon on the nose. Little bit of melon. Some sweet, fruity jolly rancher. On the palate, smoke, then some jolly rancher fruit. Like melon. Waxy still. Black licorice. Smoke. Finish it nice. Minty. Smoke. Still that sweet melon. And still yet, that waxy character from the Clynelish. Still my favourite dram. Crushed to see it go. An aptly named whisky. 94/100

So it seems I was able to find a lost blend from way back in 2014 in Louisville Kentucky in a store that looked as if they'd never even bothered to add anything of value in scotch. I to be honest though perhaps I'd forgotten about a re-release but it seems not. nose - First impression is just straight up light clean sweet smoke. Now I'm getting a bit of apple, and a bit of a cider perhaps some brown sugar or hints of cinnamon. There's a pastry note. Touch of wax that is clearly there but if you'd not told me clyenlish I'd have not called it that. It's funny now that I've gotten used to the nose the smoke is completely gone. Taste - I wish I had the money to have bought every bottle of this. How to explain this one. There's a battle between fruity notes, fruit spices, some smoke, some earthy note, a bit of a waxy oily grassy note, then more spices and more fruits. There is a dance of sweet and peat going on here that I could watch forever. I want to say oily honey, touch of apple's covered in cream, light smoke like you'd get on a pizza crust that's golden but not darkened from a wood oven and then a bit of campfire but it's off about 200 feet away and it isn't blowing toward you. it's nice and aromatic vs in your face. There are spices from oak that just add a nice touch. Really want to know the age of what's in here. A part of me feels this might be younger than 18 for all but perhaps that last small amount and that might normally bother me on a 120 dollar bottle but not here. I think the lost blend tells the story of how compass box no longer can get the same quality whisky due to the whisky boom and this is sadly a reminder of what I used to love about the brand. Don't get me wrong they still make great stuff, but prices are soaring and quality isn't. This is a sweet spot! I can't believe I'm doing it but 4 stars. I've spent my whisky budget for the rest of the year and then some I think, but I might have to think about another bottle.