John Glaser was kind enough to send me a sample of the latest product from Compass Box Whisky.
John’s taken a different approach with this one. He starts with single malt Scotch from four different Highland distilleries: Clynelish, Glen Elgin, Teaninich and Dailuaine, all of which have been aged at least 10 years.
He then puts most of the whisky through a second maturation in casks that use new oak staves. The special thing about these staves is that they are made of 195 yer old Sessile Oak, which has been air-dried for two years after felling. The oak is sourced directly from a mill in France that has expertise in providing oak for barrels used to age some of the world’s finest wines.
John says:
This gives the whiskies an integrated, rich deep, spice character – a totally new palette of flavors for Scotch whisky.
Then he blends.
When he’s done, he has…The Spice Tree.
But unless you’ll be in Europe in the next few months you won’t be able to land a bottle of the stuff…The Spice Tree won’t be launched in the US until early 2006.
If you ARE in Europe, you may want to get your hands on one of the 4,150 limited edition bottles from the inaugural batch.
John describes The Spice Tree as having a natural, deep mahogany color and a rich nose with spices such as clove and nutmeg, and sweet stewed fruits. Palate is soft, sweet, deep and rich with a malt whisky fruitiness embellished by rich spice. The finish is very long.
I’d call the sample I was sent was more of a honey gold than a deep mahogany. I personally detect quite a bit of vanilla in the nose, mixed in nicely with the spiced fruit. Spice is an excellent word to describe the flavor of this whisky, but it doesn’t overwhelm the strong malt. And I concur that the finish is VERY long, very spicy, and very pleasant.
Looks like John has another winner to add to the excellent Compass Box line-up.
The Spice Tree is a vatted malt Scotch whisky bottled at 46% abv, with natural color and is not chill-filtered.
I’ll let you know the price point, and expected availability as we get closer to release.
