Slainte-Mhath
Compass Box Spice Tree
Blended Malt — Scotland
Reviewed
September 19, 2021 (edited August 17, 2022)
Innovation, courage and the forces of evil. We all love a good story, and Compass Box's clash with the SWA regarding Spice Tree and the use of inner staves is almost legendary. On the nose, a potpourri of herbal and spicy flavors is enriched by grapefruit, toffee and candle wax. The punchy and aromatic arrival is led by chili pepper, ginger and a good amount of oak. Sweet and sour notes creep in, followed by lemon zest, nutmeg and parsley. Walnuts, resin and distant vanilla mark the long and peppery-dry finish. Kudos to John Glaser for creating this malt!
RATING: 4.0/5.0 stars ≙ 88 pts → FIRST-CLASS
48.0
EUR
per
Bottle
Create Account
or
Sign in
to comment on this review
By the end of this week, sober October is finally done and we are ready to return to a good dram or two!
Nice review. I gave this 4 stars as well when I reviewed it here 4 years ago so it sounds like it is standing up well even with necessary recipe changes. Also sounds like Clynelish is still a feature of this vatting. Great value stuff.
@Slainte-Mhath me too—I took a look at both Magic Cask and Menagerie—-wasn’t too convinced. The new Orchard one seems interesting …reasonably priced too
@PBMichiganWolverine Yes, I know what you mean, a lot of the new 'limited releases' are very expensive and not all of them are worth the money. I checked Menagerie, Magic Cask and some others, but they did not really convince me.
@Slainte-Mhath yeah , No Name ( version 1 at least ) was really good. I guess I’m thinking more of the recent ones —they seem to be getting more and more expensive with not much extra to offer for the price
@PBMichiganWolverine That's true, however, I am also a huge fan of Flaming Heart, and No Name is also pretty decent for the price.
His core range is such great VFM, as opposed to the one off limited versions
Additional comment: I love Compass Box's comment on the packaging that today's version of Spice Tree, using French oak heads and American oak bodies (instead of inner staves), would be acceptable 'to even the most conservative of observers'.
Additional information: This review is for batch L 16 07 20, bottled in 2020.