Jose-Massu-Espinel
Compass Box Experimental Grain
Blended Grain — Scotland
Reviewed
October 9, 2022 (edited November 27, 2022)
The holy knowledge of whisky says, there are only 5 types of whisky: Single Malt, Single Grain, Blended Malt, Blended Grain and the popular Blended Whisky.
But, have you ever tried or seen a Blended Grain whisky? Well, this was kind of invented by Compass Box when they released their very known Hedonism. And they where the only guys who ever made Blended Grain whiskies. You can honestly believe that there is really no need for blended grain whiskies to exist, since Single Grain is often considered as inferior to single malts. I also have to say that i know about a blended grain that is not from Compass Box, and that is the Ballantine's Vitality.
Well, CB has released to the market their newest Blend of grain whiskies, called "Experimental Grain", made from Loch Lomond, Cameronbridge, North British and a parcel of Hedonism. It has a Pale color and has 46%abv. Nice marketing as always, the bottle and the cardboard box are beautiful.
On the nose, starts with school glue, watermelon, plastic, rancid vanilla and hairspray. This sent me to my childhood since this whisky smells exactly as the action figure of the moss/grass man from the 80s cartoon, He-Man. After a first sip, it gave me this aroma of a barber shop. Some citric notes and chocolate. Yeast, vanilla and hand sanitizer alcohol.
On the palate, vanilla ice cream, rum and raisins and metallic flavors. Dulce de leche and chilli sauce. It is actually very, very good.
Aftertaste was my least favorite part. Metallic, oxide like licking a 1 cent coin; Cardamom, iodine.
Overall, i have to be honest, this was way better than what i expected. I was surprised on how good the palate is; the nose is fairly complex and the aftertaste is not off-putting in any way. Really a decent whisky, that is not a good deal for your money in any way possible except for collection, it manages to get a score of 85 over 100 in my books.
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@Jose-Massu-Espinel Here are some more examples: The Granary 1990/1973, The Exceptional Grain, Kings of Grain, and several bottles named 'Blended Grain' by different independent bottlers, for example: https://www.whiskybase.com/whiskies/whisky/114536/blended-grain-1971-br
@Jose-Massu-Espinel Compass Box was probably the first bottler offering a blended grain in 2000 (Hedonism). Check out the list here (not all of them are blended grains): https://www.whiskybase.com/search?q=Blended+Grain
@Slainte-Mhath oh i really did not know that, and i have read that CB pretty much invented them. if you can give me more info on where to find them it would be truly appreciated my friend.
@Jose-Massu-Espinel Compass Box is not the only bottler offering blended grains, there are dozens of other bottles on the market. I have an old Invergordon + North British blended grain, and I have seen many other that are mostly overlooked. It is pretty much a niche product.