Compass Box The Story of the Spaniard

Neat. Glencairn. A light to middling honeyed orange color, not much viscosity in the glass. Yep! That’s sherried. And a blend! The nose is assertively musty, young, and more than a bit sharp. Strong pear leads but so sharp and zesty it doesn’t make sense. Maybe cherry cola. Some malt enters the chat, along with oats and hay. Muted spring wildflowers. Ok… can this be this be the first time I’ve pieced this together? Took my first sip, and the next nosing lacked 80% of that sharpness now that the devil’s water had breached the gates. Is that sharpness just your body’s warning against toxic ethanol, but once it has lost the fight it just gives up sounding the warning alarms (or is so inundated from the inside it is now normalized)? Yep, it’s just gone. OK, sorry everybody – instantly invalidated my nosing notes but I’m leaving that in so I can document my a-ha moment. I guess I’m just not usually this patient before taking my first sip. Rich and waxy on the palate, but still spiky and young. Honey. Golden raisin. Clove. Orange pith. Aspartame. Pinch of cinnamon. Softwood (evergreen) sawdust. A vein of gentian and licorice. Getting some callbacks to a Springbank 10 flavor profile, but that is a superior spirit in a number of ways, IMO. Definitely brings a splash of musty sherry. The finish drops flavor quickly but holds that bracing saccharine zing impressively (unless my palate is just a wimp today) and even rebuilds to flash across the tongue, numbing the tongue and cheeks and drawing saliva with a pinch of char and light cherry. This grows on me as some of the spiky bits level out and the palate acclimates. Not a home run, but a competitor. Still hard to pick this over sherry-forward single malts that can usually be found for similar prices, like Glendronach 12, Glenfarclas 10-12, Springbank 10 (maybe that time has passed us by), Craigellachie 13, etc.

Nose: ripe fruit (orange or marmalade), vanilla Palate: prunes, raisins, orange zest, slight peat

This is good. But it tastes like you took Aberlour Abunadh and watered it down to 43% abv…which is basically what it is. Given this is only about $20+/- cheaper than Abunadh…get the Abunadh. It’s a better value in the end and you can dilute it (or not) to whatever you like. Update: after several months open and oxidized, I retried the bottle. Much better palate. All caramel and fruit. Great mouthfeel too. Viscous. Going to up score to a 4.0