Compass Box The Story of the Spaniard

Smooth & sweet

Solid

Strong sweet caramel smell. Fruity sweet flavor, very rich and creamy. Melts into a wood spice tail, heavy oak. Richness carries it for a while. Quite good, I think it would be excellent for dessert. Tastes well crafted.

Apple, raspberry, hint of char

N: An atomic sherry bomb - every red fruit you can think of. Strawberry, cherry, blackberry. Sweet red wine. Hints of caramel, vanilla, and something mineral behind that. And that's about as far as it goes. P: Same as the nose: all the red fruits. Leans heavy to the dessert wine. Good wood behind that with decent spice, but always sweet. There's a creamy vanilla, toffee, and caramel that's subtle behind that. Not much for a finish - just more red fruit and a little heat from the wood. This seemingly aims for a narrow goal: the most sherried whisky on the market. It hits that mark, for my experience at least. It falls flat in a few places, it's not terribly complex, but it's still pretty charming and I've had no problem opening this bottle regularly since picking it up. Sometimes a nice, easy drinking, fruity dram just hits the spot. I would probably do this one again, but it seems a bit overpriced. The CB Artist's Blend is fruity, but less so, and is a better deal.

Midway through the first gulp of the Spaniard I thought to myself, these sulphurous notes have got to come from non charred Spanish oak. And they were. Some vanilla from American oak might have helped here, but then again, it might not have been an Spaniard...