ContemplativeFox
Compass Box Great King St Glasgow Blend Ex-Sherry Marrying Cask Selected By Prestige-Ledroit
Blended — Scotland
Reviewed
December 14, 2021 (edited December 16, 2021)
Rating: 11/23
I'm a bit nervous here. I thought that the regular Glasgow was fine, but kind of muddled. Adding more sherry to it seems likely to just muddle it more.
N: Surprisingly, the nose nose is actually more subdued here than on the regular Glasgow blend. After a few minutes, I get a punchier peat that unfortunately comes with a bit of sulphur. Behind that peat, there is a bit of sherry sweetness and fullness. I'm getting sort of a nutty, tart oloroso vibe. Unfortunately, that sulphur keeps growing and it starts to overwhelm my nose. The regular Glasgow is much more balanced and doesn't have much sulphur at all. It's like someone threw some young Islay in an oloroso cask for a short period in hopes of masking the sulphur. Sort of like a teenager opening the window for a few minutes to try to hide the fact that they were smoking in their bedroom.
P: Rich with vegetal peatiness having a bit of chocolate, black pepper...and a wave of sulphur. I think there's some earthiness that's exacerbating the sulphur.
I get a bit of sherried fruit, but it's more on the oily side with some subdued orange peel vibe and a bit of nut to it. This isn't that usual combination of herbal, meaty peat with rich red fruited sherry. This is more like an oloroso cask was pulled out of a sulphuric bog (without a high concentration of peat by normal standards).
There's a lot of vegetal character going on here the merges into the malt. As I sip it more, I start getting a bit of baking spices (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, maybe some nutmeg).
This would be pretty interesting and somewhat enjoyable if not for the sulphur.Can I pretend the sulphur isn't there? No? Well, if I could, I'd be enjoying the other character here.
F: Numbing iodine with tons of sulphur, a bit of baking spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg), malt, and a little chocolate. The sulphur falls back as the finish goes on, but it certainly never disappears.
- Conclusion -
Tragically, this seems much worse than the regular Glasgow Blend (13/23). I don't see this being higher than an 11 and I can see it being as low as an 8. The sulphur here is just out of control. Considering just how strong the sulphur is, I think an 11 is out of the picture. I'm leaning toward a 9.
This does seem substantially better than Ardbeg Wee Beastie, though it isn't blowing the Wee Beastie out of the water.
After quite a lot of air, the sulphur disappeared into the earthiness, making this a lot better. Considering that, I'm not considering up to a 12 for this. Overall though, I do need to take into account the substantial period of time during which the sulphur was overpowering. With that in mind, I'm going for either a 10 or 11. I think I'll go for the 11.
Thank you @ctbeck11 for sharing this! It wasn't my cup of tea, but I was sorely tempted to buy a bottle I saw, and you spared me that regret :)
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@ctbeck11 I'm not sure - I was pretty surprised by that element. I'm also finding I've been more sensitive to sulphur lately, which confuses me 🤔
Interesting. I’ll need to revisit. It could be that the marrying cask they used imparted some more sulphur than with the standard blend.