On a recent trip to Singapore, I stopped by La Maison du Whisky and sampled two new Compass Box offerings. It reminded me of an August evening a year ago when we were treated to a Compass Box trilogy and decided to revisit…
Tasting Notes from 21 August 2014
Following our standard approach, we tried ‘blind’ different whiskies before unveiling a theme night of three remarkable blends from Compass Box: Great King Street Artist’s Blend, Spice Tree and The Peat Monster.
Spice Tree was the second from our trilogy…
Spice Tree 46%
- Colour – A bit more depth than our 1st offering (Great King Street Artist’s Blend)
- Nose – A delight! Cheese, jack fruit, more sea salt, sweet with a little zest of orange. Quite playful, with a hint rubber and vanilla. From the nose alone, speculated may have spent some time in a bourbon cask…
- Taste – Rubber, well roasted spices, yet still roguish. Some described it like the sweet spice one finds in chilli chocolate
- Finish – Much more character than the Great King Street Artist’s Blend. Warm, lingering, sweet like a turmeric leaf
- Add water? The chili spice burns even sweeter
Our blind verdict? More of a weekend drink – perhaps Sunday evening when one can sip and savour. The finish alone is superb and worth a lazy leisurely setting. Could pair with chocolate to melt with the sweetness or perhaps cheese? Yet has enough character to hold its own with a meat course. None could quite place it, though there was a sense we have tried cousins of it.
The unveiling – Made from 10 year Highland malt whiskies with new French oak heads, perhaps the cousin we sensed is the Clynelish element? Apparently our friends at Compass Box got themselves into a spot of trouble when they first launched this remarkable blended malt. Check out more of the story here.
Comment
“The Spice Tree was more complex than I initially thought. The spices start “cooking” if you keep the whisky long enough in your mouth (just like my wife starts getting irritated if I keep her waiting long enough), and yet the finish has the sweetness of a bourbon cask (unlike the finish of my wife’s wait.)”
Aside from getting our whisky sampler in trouble with his better half, I would certainly agree that the Spice Tree does better when it has an opportunity to breathe a little, slowly sipping over time as the spice elements blend and mellow.
Other Compass Box treats sampled:
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