After having worked my way through most, if not all, of Compass Box Whisky’s core range of blends I found that I had completely ignored, or just missed out on, their re-formulation of the standard Spice Tree. Now, I remember enjoying the original quite a bit as I thought the use of traditional oak casks and ex-bourbon, French oak added a nice level of complexity to CBW’s standard, sherry cask fare. The Extravaganza was released in 2016, to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of Spice Tree, and it is rumored that the original blend was beefed up with older stock while utilizing first-fill sherry and special hybrid casks. What is a hybrid cask, you ask? Well, I believe it’s where blenders, and even a few distilleries, take pieces from different styles of casks and rebuild them like Frankenstein: take the ends off of a sherry cask and place them on an ex-bourbon cask or it could be simply to add oak spirals from one type of cask into a different style. Aka, Experimentation to another level. Anyway, Extravaganza utilized a lot of this while increasing the sherry-casked whisky into the overall recipe- voila, Spice Tree Extravaganza was born. The ABV was also bumped up to 46%, as was the price point. I paid $97 for this bottle and I still think it was worth every penny. The whisky is rich gold and very oily. Big, watery drops and slick legs greet you after giving yourself a healthy pour. The nose has noticeably more sherry than the spicy notes I recall from the old Spice Tree. There’s vanilla and butterscotch giving off a sweet, creamy vibe. I wish the nose was more like the old stuff, but the palate is where the transformation really takes hold. The flavor profile is much deeper than before: vanilla beans and chocolate covered almonds lead into the sherry and spicy mid point. Peppers and oak spices warm things considerably and make this thing really take off. It’s oily on the tongue, as well, and it just coats every inch of your mouth and wakes the tastebuds. It’s still incredibly rich, yet smooth. I could be content just to sit and roll this stuff back and forth across the tongue. The finish is also somewhat long and warming. The spices and sweet vanilla and sherry just linger on and on. It’s blended so well it’s hard to guess the ages of the whisky used in larger amounts. There has to be some young juice in here, but I’ll be damned if I can’t detect a weakness in the complexity and mouth feel. It’s that good. Overall, this is a wonderful departure from most of the core range and there are bottles still littered across lots of store shelves. If you find a store offering this up on clearance or even at a price below $75-80 I’d buy multiples. It’s classy and sophisticated if you need that for a special occasion to show off to some noobs, yet it’s complex enough to withstand a round table discussion with your whisky connoisseur friends. Or you could just hoard it all and spend a quiet evening on the veranda with it and a rich cigar (if that’s your thing). 4.5 stars all day long. Cheers.