Review: Meet The New Compass Box Whiskies, Crimson Casks and Nectarosity

Compass Box, whose blended scotch creations have won enormous critical acclaim over the past two decades, has undergone some big changes this year. In February, its founder and driving force, John Glaser, stepped down after 23 years at the helm. That news came atop an announcement that Hedonism, the grain whisky that vaulted Compass Box into the spotlight in 2000, would be removed from the core range to become a limited annual release. This month the winds of change blew once more, as Compass Box discontinued its Spice Tree and Story of the Spaniard labels, replacing them with two completely new whiskies.

Spice Tree was first released in 2005, and Story of the Spaniard has been around since 2018. Both expressions aimed to spotlight cask/wood influence. Spice Tree explores the influence of French oak with a blend of malts including Glen Moray, Balmenach, and a proprietary Highland malt divided into three separate parcels, each aged in French oak barrels at different toasting levels—heavy, medium, and light. (Older batches included Clynelish, Teaninich, and Dailuaine.) Story of the Spaniard’s focus was on sherry influence, blending sherried whiskies from distilleries including Macduff, Linkwood, Glen Moray, and Glendullan.

Compass Box whisky maker James Saxon says discontinuing Spaniard and Spice Tree was a marketing decision designed to slim down the lineup and help newer audiences find a starting point. The brand also felt there was too much of an overlap between Spaniard and Spice Tree in terms of flavor and storytelling—as both were Highlands-dominant blended malts focused on wood. “It wasn't that they did anything wrong,” he said. “They just kind of played in each other’s territory a bit.”

The New Arrivals

Compass Box briefly considered keeping Spaniard in the rotation with a different recipe, but ultimately scrapped that idea in favor of creating a new expression that could combine the aspects of Spice Tree and Spaniard. That new whisky is Crimson Casks, which is set to release in September alongside fellow newcomer Nectarosity. Both Crimson Casks and Nectarosity will be a part of a “core four” whisky lineup that also will include the fruit-forward Orchard House and smoky Peat Monster.

Crimson Casks is thus being billed as a replacement for both Spaniard and Spice Tree. It’s a blended malt that includes whiskies from Glen Moray, Benrinnes, Teaninich, and an undisclosed distillery cheekily identified only as being “near the town of Aberlour.” The whisky aims to cover both sherry and French oak influences with an integration of different maturation casks, though sherry is definitely the star of the show. Some 78.2% of the blend was aged in some type of wine cask, including oloroso-seasoned butts, Spanish red wine barriques, and sherry casks. The oloroso casks were specifically picked for the crimson color and notes of raisin, cherry, and chocolate they impart on the whisky. As for the French oak influence, 7.3% is an undisclosed blend of Highland malts aged in custom heavy-toast French oak barrels. The Benrinnes component, which holds a 14.5% share of the total, was aged in first-fill bourbon barrels and contributes notes of toffee and apple. (Precise details on Crimson Cask components can be found here.)

Nectarosity, on the other hand, is a completely new creation that Saxon has long wanted to make. He took inspiration from the patisserie and pop-up baking scene in London, his home city for the past three years. The blend is mostly composed of Highland malts and Lowland grain whiskies, covering Girvan and Cameronbridge on the grain side and Clynelish, Balmenach, and the Speyside-based Linkwood as the malt components. It’s meant to focus on American oak, so naturally, whiskies aged in first-fill bourbon barrels occupy a big chunk of the recipe. Palo Cortado seasoned butts and refill sherry puncheons are also in the mix, adding flavors of nougat and apricot jam that drive home the pastry/baking theme, marking a nice point of differentiation with Crimson Casks. Nectarosity was initially planned at 49% ABV, but after conducting a few tastings, the team felt that it performed better at its current 46%. A higher-proof version could be in the cards for the future, says Saxon, similar to how Peat Monster has a cask strength bottling.

The first-fill bourbon influence on Nectarosity isn’t just limited to the barrels. The team starts with virgin oak casks sourced from Independent Stave Company’s Missouri cooperage, which have a proprietary toast profile and No.-2 char. The barrels are first used to age Girvan new-make grain whisky for a year. After that, the Girvan whisky is dumped, and the cask is reused to age Clynelish single malt, to be included in the blend.

That fairly unusual process was conceived through earlier conversations the team had with the late, legendary whisky scientist Dr. Jim Swan. “The overall thinking was: If everyone in bourbon starts rinsing their casks, how do we get more of that American oak character that we want?” explains Saxon. The solution was to reverse-engineer a bourbon cask, but using grain new make instead of bourbon white dog. The Girvan is thus used as a seasoning method, stripping harsher tannins and oak sugars from the wood. Saxon says that had the Clynelish been aged in new oak rather than these refill casks, it would have been at risk of being overcooked. Precise details on Nectarosity's components can be found here.

How Do They Taste?

Brands that make big changes to their core range—even ones with devoted followings like Compass Box—always run the risk of a backlash. Fans are naturally going to be upset if their favorite whiskies are discontinued. The new whiskies must not only be good on their own, but better than the ones they’re replacing. Only time will tell if Compass Box’s strategy pays off, but our tasting panel was impressed by the new arrivals.

Tasting blind as always, the panelists tried Nectarosity and Crimson Casks alongside some others from Compass Box, and found that they hold their own quite well. Nectarosity was found to have a pleasant spiciness and somewhat fragrant profile, and certainly lives up to its bakery inspiration. Our tasters were particularly impressed with Crimson Casks, which has a very deep, rich, and complex sweetness that more than holds its own against Spice Tree and Story of The Spaniard. Here are the reviews:

Compass Box Nectarosity Blended Scotch

Score: 91
ABV: 46%
SRP: $65

Brown sugar, spicy oak, sandalwood, incense, mint tea, candle wax, orange peel, and citrus on the nose. A honeyed palate is layered with flavors of baked pears and apricots, rich vanilla, and citrusy notes of lemon and vanilla pastry, with an offbeat grainy, musty note at the back. The finish is long, smooth, and fairly explosive, with vanilla custard, pepper spice, and baked apple sweetness. Great texture, and distinctive notes of fruit and vanilla. —David Fleming

Compass Box Crimson Casks Blended Malt Scotch

Score: 93
ABV: 46%
SRP: $75

Deep color, and equally rich on the nose, with perfumed, floral notes, vanilla, Cointreau-flambéed crepes, baked orange, grilled peaches, and fried bananas, balanced by musty antique shop and barrel char. A hint of smoke on a creamy, smoothly textured palate, with decadent vanilla, raspberry coulis, spicy oak, French toast, strawberry tart, and lots of peppery spice. The finish is long and fruity, accented by red berries, sweet fruit brandy notes, and aged oak. —David Fleming

The Rest of the Landscape

Separate from Compass Box’s “core four” are its Artist Blend and Glasgow Blend labels, which formed the Great King Street portfolio until 2021, when that name was dropped and they began going by their solo titles. Both currently remain ongoing releases, though it’s uncertain how long they will stay in production. The initial plan is to focus them more in bars and restaurants while monitoring how well they perform. “We’ve done the exercise to think about what four whiskies tell the Compass Box story best,” said Saxon. “The Artist and Glasgow blends have always kind of been in their own little area,” he added, noting that both were originally built with bartenders in mind and have historically done well there.

All this change isn’t the first time Compass Box has removed whiskies from its ongoing release list, though in the past it was done due to shortages of key aged whiskies. Hedonism became an annual release because Compass Box was depleting certain grain whisky parcels—namely Cameronbridge liquid distilled in the ‘90s. It was the same for Asyla, which was retired in 2018 after 17 years of production. But Saxon says stock availability didn’t really play a role in the decision to drop Spice Tree and Spaniard.

On the current supply front, the outlook is now positive. Saxon says that while component whisky costs have been challenging in recent years, prices are coming down slightly. Compass Box has maintained close relationships with several distilleries over the years, which has helped it secure inventories. Since 2013, Compass Box has been sourcing new-make spirit from certain distilleries such as Linkwood, and aging them on its own. The majority of Compass Box’s inventory of 50,000–55,000 casks comprises those self-aged whiskies, with about 10,000 casks filled yearly. “We’re in a good place,” said Saxon, confirming that none of the current core offerings are in danger of being cut due to missing stocks.

From time to time, Compass Box resurrects retired expressions as more upscale bottlings. Hedonism’s new format naturally came with a price bump, and future editions will feature a new label art each year that pays homage to the original, which is claimed to be the first scotch to feature a woman on the label. Asyla was also briefly resurrected as Delos, a $325 bottling that was released as a part of the super-limited Extinct Blends Quartet. Saxon says, while that there are no current plans to bring back Spice Tree or Tale of the Spaniard in a similar format, there is a significant amount of Spice Tree vatted away, and it could return in one way or another.