Compass Box The Circus

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Strictly limited to 1 per customer! 

Demand for this very limited edition blend is expected to be high, coming on the heels of the General and This is Not a Luxury Whisky. The quantity coming to Alberta is expected to be small. It is composed primarily of two mysterious older whiskies, blended while young and married together for more than 2/3 of their lives in refill sherry butts. Even Compass Box doesn't know what all of the components are, but they are clearly excellent. There is also a moderate component of old blended grain whisky. 

Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: jammy, nutty, fruity and layered; lush old grains, smooth old leather and dark chocolate with cayenne spice; salted caramel and a touch of dried fruit bars with baklava. 

Palate: big, leathery, fruity and spicy with dried fruits (cherries, cranberry and raisins); dark chocolate with cayenne spice, silky honeyed grain notes and more jammy notes: strawberry-rhubarb; old leather, delicate tobacco and musty old oak.

Finish: big, long and elegant; more leather, dark chocolate, spices and dried fruits with a silky honeyed base.

Comment: this is a beautiful older blend, the silky grains shine through as do the bolder rich sherry notes; again, sadly available in but pitifully small quantities!

 

Producer Tasting Note: "A lithe frame and opulent mouthfeel showcasing the supple softness of mature grain and the complexity of aged Blended Scotch Whisky. Brimming with dried fruit character, a luscious maltiness and nuances of almond and hazelnut."

From the Distillery: "I have a longstanding belief that there is a magic to certain combinations of Scotch whisky. Such blends – like the very best of circuses – have the capacity to take us outside of ourselves for just a moment, to elevate the senses beyond the everyday and – following the sentiment of Charlie Chaplin’s immortal clown – to raise our eyes upwards to consider horizons new." 

"Such is the case with this whisky, for which we were lucky enough to uncover that rarest of finds – old parcels of Blended Scotch and Blended Grain whisky that had been aged pre-blended in cask for many years. In such parcels, what you get are whisky blends so seamless, so complex that they function for us as single components. 

"We know little of the component distillery whiskies used in these blends for The Circus, only that they contain both single malt and single grain whiskies and that the ‘marrying casks’ are sherry butts. However, the provenance of the components isn’t important to us now, as what we have are old casks containing whiskies that are extraordinary."

700 ml