
Compass Box's founder and master blender John Glaser joined #TasteWithSpace on Jan. 22 to discuss anniversary releases, blending, and more.
John Glaser: The Evolution of Blending
January 26, 2021 –––––– Sam Stone
In the past two decades, Compass Box has cemented itself as a leader in the world of blended scotch—and the whisky world as a whole—and throughout the journey founder and master blender John Glaser has led the way. Since the brand's inception in 2000, Compass Box has introduced beloved blends that encompass a variety of styles and flavor profiles, some of which have landed on Whisky Advocate's Top 20 list. Despite its success, Compass Box and Glaser continue to adapt to the rapidly changing trends of the whisky world. In fact, Glaser embraces the brand's evolution.“We reserve the right to improve our product, our whisky,” said Glaser, who joined Whisky Advocate's Instagram Live series #TasteWithSpace on Jan. 22. “So many whisky lovers are conditioned to think, ‘Well, whiskies that are blends—whiskies from different distilleries—the whole thing about them is they're consistent, they don't change over time.' Of course they change.” Indeed, Compass Box changed the recipe for its Peat Monster blended scotch in August 2019, and that new recipe earned the no.-9 spot on the 2020 Top 20.“We did a lot of work on this,” Glaser said of the new Peat Monster recipe. The Peat Monster debuted in 2003 as a special release for Park Avenue Liquor shop in New York City, Glaser said. “So I put together something that I thought was really peaty at the time,” he added. Park Avenue wanted the release to be even peatier, and the blend turned out to be something Glaser considered a “monster,” thus arriving at the name The Peat Monster. In the years since The Peat Monster was born, the landscape of the whisky world has changed greatly. “Heavy peated whiskies weren't as popular as they are today,” Glaser said. “Over time as whisky drinkers started to become more and more interested in heavy peated whiskies, we just kept changing and evolving, dialing up the peat.”