Compass Box This Is Not a Luxury Whisky

Tastes just like a cask strength JW black. Nuff said. 😐

Chinese restaurant in Columbus, OH N: caramel, T: spicy, full, fresh fruit (apple), F: long, caramel, light sherry, apple Mulled spicy apple pie. Mixture of zest and old whisky

This is not a review. The bottle is very interesting. The contents are interesting too. But not as much as the bottle, which is ironic. The bottle misses the irony, as well. It should be labeled “This is not luxury.” The famous painting this Compass Box release draws inspiration from is a Rene Magritte painting of a cigar pipe that reads “Ceci n’est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe).” And it’s not a pipe. The painting is an abstraction of the object. This bottle of whisky is an object, and luxury is the abstraction. Hence, potentially, Compass Box could have had the clever, artful flip, scrutinizing an object representing the abstraction; the opposite of Magritte’s painting. But they missed the cleverness. “This Is Not a Luxury Whisky” is just a clunky reference that feels like a gimmick. And the message telling you that a whisky is about the liquid, and it should be drank is nauseating exposition. “This Is Not Luxury” would have been the perfect name. No exposition. I mean, you can include notes and objective information. But I hate being told how to interpret something. And it’s not luxury. It’s got grain in it. 40 year old grain whisky, but it’s grain whisky, and I’m not into it. Not my thing. Most of this whisky is 19 year old Glen Ord malt, and that gives this blend a Highland fruity and floral base. But I can’t escape the feeling that when you mix 40 year old grain with a 19 year old malt, you get something that tastes like a 15 year old whisky. It’s those acetone, banana notes. It’s richer and more oily here, but it’s not something I immediately am going to like. Yeah, I’m not sure about the grain. It’s one of those things that is interesting for me, but not necessarily attractive. Like dwarves. Anyways, the grain loses its grip on the spotlight quickly, and things get better. The finish is one of the most dynamic and complex of any whisky I’ve had. The Islay minority that was suppressed on the nose, and the arrival, starts to unpretty this whisky, and it just goes back and forth between salty and savory, and sweet and toffied for a long time. And at 53.1% ABV, you get some great aftertastes if you exhale the right way. Water in a blend generally kills the oldest components first. So, on the one hand, I may actually enjoy this more without the obvious contribution from the grain; on the other hand, adding water makes this more common, and less worth the price tag. This is a great whisky. Is it worth two Flaming Hearts? No. PRESUMPTIVE MARK: 94/100.