Newsletter
Sign up for our newsletter for information on our latest products and promotions.
Sign up for our newsletter for information on our latest products and promotions.
Please confirm that you are of legal age
to purchase alcohol in your region.
You currently have an active checkout session
open already, would you like to clear it?
1257 Kensington Road NW
1 (403) 283-8000 / atyourservice@kensingtonwinemarket.com
$271.99
Primarily built from parcels of Caol Ila, Ardmore, and The Peat Monster, it also contains a little Laphroaig and Bowmore. 52% - Limit 1 Per Customer!
Producer Description
"Secrets of Smoke takes you beyond the smoke screen. With this whisky we uncover the sometimes surprising inherent sweetness of peated malts. Take some time to get through the smoke. The longer you sit with it you’ll become accustomed to it as the veil of smoke drops, the sweet side shines through."
"For Secrets of Smoke, we allow those wine casks to crack the smoky outer shell and release the unexpected sweetness at the core of peated whiskies. Palo Cortado sherry-seasoned butts enhancing the toffee apple qualities of malt whisky from the Caol Ila Distillery. Refill red wine barrels tempt bright cherry notes from the depths of The Peat Monster, our own assemblage of Islay malts. And those Marsala barriques bring blueberry flapjack flavours to the surface of malt whisky from the Laphroaig Distillery."
700 mlProducer Tasting Note
"Like morse code the flavours pulse and come in waves with moments of intensity and then a reprise. Once past the coastal smokiness, the nose is honeyed and rich with toasted marshmallow and buttery pears. The palate is oily and spicy with pear, peach and melon. It grows citrussy, before a long, chocolatey and peaty finish."
The following was written by Andrew Ferguson for the August 2020 Edition of Celtic Life Magazine.
Please note Compass Box is not an independent bottler, but they also aren't a distillery. They are Blendersm or as they like to point out, Whisky Makers!
It has been six years since I last wrote about the Compass Box Whisky Co. for Celtic Life International. With the plucky London based “Whiskymakers” celebrating their 20th anniversary this year, it seems like an appropriate time to revisit one of my favourite whisky companies.
In a world obsessed with single malt whisky, blended Scotch whisky continues to suffer from the stigma of the dreaded “B word” - blends. The blended Scotch industry reigned in the latter half of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century. However, the last two decades have belonged to Single Malts. Blended whisky is far from done, however; it continues to dominate sales in terms of sheer volume and, recently, consumers have been thirsting for interesting Blends. Much of the credit for this must go to Compass Box, and their esteemed impresario John Glaser.
I have known John for more than 10 years and I have been a fan of his, and his creations, for even longer. Compass Box has been pushing the boundaries of Scotch whisky for two decades, starting with their first ever release, Hedonism - a blended grain whisky that is a marriage of at least two different single grain Scotch whiskies. grain whisky is lighter, more delicate, and cleaner than malt whisky, owing to how it is made. It is often the base, or filler, for more commercial blends. However, that is not the case with Compass Box, where grain whisky is an accent, used to add delicacy and decadence. Hedonism is soft, elegant, and sinfully decadent, hence the name. Whisky drinkers weren’t even drinking single grains in 2000, let alone blended grains, and this is where John chose to make his mark and announce his arrival.
John is one of the most unlikely leaders in the Scotch whisky industry. A native of Minnesota, he studied winemaking and literature before taking a marketing job with Johnnie Walker, a position he thought would be temporary. The job took him to Scotland and eventually to London, where he worked with Diageo’s blending team. He had always hoped to make his way into winemaking but fell in love with Scotch whisky and the art of whisky-making. Over time, his passion outgrew the vision of his employers; John approached Diageo with a proposal to create a range of boutique blended Scotch whiskies, but they didn’t share his enthusiasm. So, he struck out on his own.
Hedonism was followed up with Asyla (a proper blend), Eluethera (a blended malt), and then his next big hit - the Peat Monster. I remember the first time I tried the Peat Monster; it was smoky and peaty, but not quite as intense as Laphroaig or Ardbeg. Most importantly, it was elegant and complex. That has been the signature of Compass Box whiskies over the past 20 years - “a forward-looking approach and an unrelenting desire to create quality.” They have experimented, pushed boundaries, challenged tradition, and ruffled feathers - as they did most famously with the release of the Spice Tree.
Their thirst for the art of whisky-making is what has endeared them to legions of fans, including yours truly.
One of the highlights of my time in the whisky industry was the creation of my own bespoke Compass Box Blend to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of my store, the Kensington Wine Market, in 2017. I didn’t merely select a cask or approve a bottling - I actually played a role in the creation of something unique, the Compass Box Kensington Wine Market 25th Anniversary Blend. During the year it took to dial in the recipe for its creation I had the privilege of being a whisky-maker - certainly a career highlight!
Compass Box Whiskies are found more widely around the world today than in the early days. Hedonism, Spice and Peat Monster are still available as part of a large stable of the company’s unique creations. Their limited annual releases are the most sought after and this year’s 20th anniversary spirits will be no exception. The first is Rogues’ Banquet, a superb tribute to both their many unique whiskies and their equally distinct patrons. In their words, “When we conceived the idea for Rogues' Banquet last year, we felt that a collection of our favourite Compass Box personalities and an opulent liquid would be the ideal means by which to begin our 20th anniversary celebrations. Rogues' Banquet is made for the gourmands and the hedonists who have accompanied us for the last 20 years.”
$284.99
Produced and bottled exclusively for the sinDicate Whisky Club, with a few bottles left to be sold at KWM. 51.5%
Producer Description
"This beautiful old style malt whisky was blended from only the finest and scarcest of Scottish pure pot-distilled malt whiskies. Great makes such as Downess, Parkwhore. St. Spankdalene, Convalscore, Inverlovin', North Pork, and Ladybum all feature in this exceptional recipe, which has been a closely guarded secret since last month, passed down from Ops team to warehouse by email thread, just as our forefathers did in their day. It contains only the purest malt whiskies, matured in exquisite sherrywood and refill casks. Absolutely no deleterious agents of any kind have been added."
More Details - From the Sponge Himself!
"This was a parcel of sherry butts 'filled' in 2001. But we don't know the precise mix of components, only that it was originally intended to be for Famous Grouse. The constituent malts are very likely Macallan, Highland Park and Tamdhu. I was told that some parts of the mix date back to 1975, but we've no documentation to confirm that. It would explain the very old school sherry matured character of those casks though, and the low cask strength ABVs, all circa 45%."
" The profile is old style sherry and peat, I’m very proud of it, to me tastes like old Berry Brothers All Malt bottlings."
$434.99
This is the fourth and final release in the Compass Box Extinct Blends Quartet, which celebrates - or laments - the blends of decades' past which are no longer available. Celestial draws on peated whisky from Ardbeg and Caol Ila, which are always good malts to build around. Malt from Pulteney and grain from Port Dundas and Cameronbridge are also in the mix along with prior Compass Box blends and other assorted magic, courtesy of Blender James Saxon. Bottled at 51%.
Producer Description
"Our latest and last in the Extinct Blends Quartet Celestial takes to the sky through billowing clouds and glittering constellations, inspired by a whisky from the 1960s with both an extravagant flavour profile and an equine theme. The peatiest of the Extinct Blends Quartet, and our most expansive, Celestial offers a depth of flavour and maturity that has become the series’ hallmark.
Celestial accentuates the smokiness of its forebear, drawing on malt whiskies from the Ardbeg and Caol Ila distilleries, two parcels we previously brought together six years ago for the original No Name."
$249.99
The 2025 edition of Compass Box Hedonism, bottled to mark the firm's 25th Anniversary, was bottled at 46% after finishing in First-Fill ex-Marsala Barriques. Limit 1 Per Customer!
Producer Description
"To us, Hedonism is more than a whisky. It's an idea that transcends time and tradition in Scotch whisky. It's an invitation to share in the pleasures of whisky and the creativity. It's the embodiment of the Compass Box ethos."
"Hedonism has always defied convention, paying homage to tradition of grain whisky distillation in Scotland. Over the years, demand for high-quality grain whisky has increased throughout Scotland, making the calibre of whisky we require for Hedonism ever harder to find. So, in 2024, Hedonism became a limited annual release, appearing once a year in limited quantities, each a different interpetation of that classic Hedonism style. For 2025, we have imbued Hedonism with greater power at 46%, featuring single grain from Cameronbridge Distillery, further matured for two years in a first-fill Marsala barrique."
$121.99
Crimson Casks is a new release that has been added to Compass Box's core range of Blended Scotch Whisky. Like the Glasgow Blend, Crimson Casks focus is on Sherry Casks. Unlike the Glasgow Blend, it is unpeated. The blend features a decent portion of single Malt from excellent Glen Moray Distillery (matured first in ex-red wine casks) as well as a "Distillery Near The Town of Aberlour" with much of the whisky being at least partially matured in first-fill Oloroso Sherry-seasoned butts made from American Oak. The resulting blend is Bottled at 46% ABV.
Producer Description
"We work with our partner in Jerez, taking American oak butts and precisely seasoning them with Oloroso sherry for a very particular wood interaction that creates a spiciness and generous intensity. We blend these sherry-influenced parcels with red wine-influenced whisky from The Glen Moray Distillery and our Highland Malt Blend in custom oak French barrels. Crimson Casks delivers notes of chocolate fudge cake and plum jam, followed by rich cherry, toffee and oak. These rich flavours are undercut by clove and cardamom."
