Compass Box Stranger & Stranger

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Stranger & Stranger has been a big part of Compass Box's marketing success over the years. To mark the 10th anniversary of their collaboration as well as Stranger & Stranger's 30th Anniversary, John has put together this special blend. It is a Scotch Malt Whisky blended with wheat and barley spirit... ahem, is it Scotch or a whisky? 46%. 4802 Bottles Worldwide!

Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: sinful caramel sauce and Manuka honey leads in to big juicy citrus: Starburst fruit candies, fresh squeezed orange juice and grapefruit bitters; doughy with more exotic fruits emerging: apricots, quince paste and ripe tropical fruits; very decadent and slightly floral with soft leather, vanilla bean and caramel chews.

Palate: rich, creamy, coating and silky; still sinfully indulgent with a big, round oily and coating body; so juicy... ; more exotic and tropical fruits with bight citrus to boot; the dried apricot tones are still there with mango, papaya and waxy Starburst fruit candies; loads of floral vanilla, some soft leather and decadent crisp spices with a faint wisp of smoke. 

Finish: long, coating, creamy and elegant; fruity, layered and decadent; the finale is just as interesting and complex as the nose and palate. 

Comment: this is a brilliant spirit drink... crucially this can be called a whisky or a Scotch as 1% of the recipe is 18 month of grain spirit from the Girvan distillery matured in virgin oak; but who cares? this is yet another fine example of how innovation can come crashing up against well intentioned but misguided rules of the road; if you are someone who takes comfort in clear definitions and labels this drink is not for you; if however you are someone who puts the liquid ahead of all other concerns, look no further; this stuff is brilliant and as an added bonus, the label is another triumph! 

Producer Tasting Note:  "You’ll find aromas and flavours in this Stranger spirit that remind you of custard and dark sugars, fresh apple fruit and an appealing herbal character. It has a sweetness on the palate that will call you back to the glass, owing to just one percent of the recipe using our delicious sacrificial spirit."

Producer Description: "Some may call it sacrilege, but we thought the addition of one year old ‘sacrificial spirit’ would be the perfect component to use in our limited edition blend to celebrate ten years of collaboration with our good friends at the package design company Stranger & Stranger. In the 30 plus design projects we’ve worked on together, we typically provide a core idea and direction, but for this special project, we let Stranger & Stranger design what they liked. All I told them was we were working on a recipe incorporating some amazing one year old grain spirit we had used to season some experimental American oak barrels. We had been calling this one year old ‘sacrificial spirit’ because we didn’t know what it would be like after a year in these crazy new barrels. Turned out, it was amazing, filled with intense wood spice and exotic shades of vanilla character."

"Typical of the way we ordinarily work with Stranger & Stranger, the simple idea of a ‘sacrificial spirit’ captured their collective imagination and they used it as a springboard for the intricate and fascinating design of this limited edition. You’ll find aromas and flavours in this Stranger spirit that remind you of custard and dark sugars, fresh apple and an appealing herbal character. It has a sweetness on the palate that will call you back to the glass, owing to just one percent of the recipe using our delicious sacrificial spirit."

700 ml