I can't believe I haven't reviewed this previously as I'm a huge fan of Compass Box and everything whisky magician John Glaser turns his hand to. This bottle sadly crashed into the bottle bank last year, but after stumbling across my tasting notes in a battered, dogeared notepad, I thought it was about time to transfer my messy scribbles to the blog.
The Great King Street Artist's Blend is a combination of 46% Lowland grain whisky, 28% Northern Highland single malt, 17% of a Northern Highland single malt, with the remaining 9% made up from a Speyside single malt. Of course, if you want to dig down into a bit more detail, visit the excellent Compass Box website and you'll be able to request the info.
It's part of the whiskymakers' ongoing and commendable transparency campaign, which strives to lift the lid on current EU and UK regulations which stops companies like Compass Box from publicly stating the ages and details of the whiskies used in their blends. More power to them.
Nose: Cereal and banana toffee chews. Some spicy oak is present, along with a hint of white wine, golden syrup and lemon curd spread on toasted granary bread. There's also Wrigley's spearmint chewing gum, rich tea biscuits, custard powder, sugary apple turnover and sticky toffee pudding.
Palate: The Artist's Blend is rich and full-flavoured. Baked apple, red liquorice laces, floral honey, lemon drizzle cake, raisins and golden sultanas. There's also a twist of pepper and fizzy, rice paper flying saucers.
Finish: Spicy with rich lemon, a little menthol note, ground cinnamon, orange oil and vanilla. I even get Christmas mince pies when left in the glass for a while.
A delicious dram which I'd like to see in larger bottles. 50cl just doesn't last long enough!
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