Compass Box Flaming Heart 2018 Magnums
$379.99
The 6th edition of Compass Box's legendary Flaming Heart Release is here, and it is available in 1.5L Magnums as well as 700ml standard bottles!. The 2018 Edition has introduced a subtle sherry cask influence to compliment the bold new French oak and medium-Peaty tones of the classic recipe. Bottled at 48.9% with just a smidge over 15,000 bottles have been released world-wide, as have 800 Magnums.Â
From the Producer:"This is our sixth edition of Flaming Heart, a whisky born of oak, smoke and fire. In this 2018 edition, we have reintroduced a subtle sherry-cask influence that adds an additional layer of complexity and richness. A medium smoky-peaty base is enriched by a sweet maltiness and notes of baking spices and dried fruit. It’s a whisky to enjoy late into the night, perfect served neat or paired with rich cheeses.
"Bottled at 48.9% / Not chill-filtered / Natural colour / First released in 2006, Flaming Heart was the first whisky to combine the rich, complex spice of Scotch aged in new French oak with the evocative peat-fired smoke of Islay malt. It created a genre-defying style that was smouldering, spicy, complex and so popular that we've re-released it five more times in the years that followed."
Celebration of the Cask Wardhead 1997
$219.99
Alright. Hopefully this isn't a case of telling you the tooth fairy isn't real, but at some point we all have to grow up and learn the truth, aye? There is no Wardhead distillery. There are also no Wardhead Single Malts. Any whisky you find with the Wardhead appellation associated will be a) a blended malt and b) 99.999% distillate from a distillery that rhymes with Fengliddich. Yup. Wardhead is nothing more than 'teaspooned' Glenfiddich. In fact, it's almost certainly Glenfiddich with a few drops of Balvenie added, just to prevent the independent bottlers from being able to use the distillery's name itself. For all intents and purposes...you're drinking an independently bottled expression from the biggest selling Single Malt brand in the world. As if the high abv wasn't enough to differentiate this one, it was sourced from a single Hogshead. Only 354 bottles. Unique, of course, but more importantly...delicious.
54.6% abv
Maltbarn Epitome Blended Malt 1993
$264.99
If rumours are to be believed, this may just be pre-blended Edrington malt. And you know what that means, aye? Almost certainly Macallan and Highland Park. We've had a few stunners like this over the last year. Remember that Old Perth 14? Or our own KWM Berry Bros 40 year old? If those sherried beauties lit you up, then this bottling from Maltbarn will almost certainly do the same. And I do have to say, I honestly can't think of two distilleries that marry together as beautifully as Macallan and Highland Park. They seem to have been destined to be together.
Only 170 bottles were made available of this 24 year old sleeper. Bottled at 53.1% and served up au natural.
700 ml
Compass Box The Story of the Spaniard
$77.99
The Story of the Spaniard was featured on Day 22 of our 2018 KWM Whisky Advent Calendar.
The Story of the Spaniard is first new core range release from Compass Box in more than five years. The whisky is a blend of malt whisky matured in ex-Sherry casks, virgin French oak and Spanish red wine barriques. The whisky was inspired by a chance meeting between John Glaser and a local in Spain, his first proper introduction to sherry. The whisky is also inspired by a bespoke bottling done previously for a Greenich Village bar in New York. Bottled at 43% ABV
.Mini / 50mL bottles of this can be found here (while supplies last!)
Andrew’s Tasting Note:
Nose: honeyed, nutty and leathery; soft chocolate tones, honeyed granola with dried apple chunks and bright citrus and gentle oak tannins.
Palate: meaty and leathery with firm spices at first and gentle oak; it becomes more honeyed and fruity as the palate develops with a fresh elegant cool mint flourish; more bright citrus and dried apple chunks; a touch of chewy malt with dried berry fruits.
Finish: bright, fruity and coating with tingling delicate spices and more dried fruits: citrus, apple and berries.
Comment: as ever, Compass Box has created another balanced, elegant expression; the sherry and wine cask notes are prominent but far from over the top; a great addition to the range!
Proudcer Tasting Note: "Full, soft and sumptuous on the palate with notes of citrus peel, red wine and spices. The finish is long, with hints of rich vanilla panna cotta, ripe berries and cherries. "
Producer Description: "Inspired by an eponymously named bespoke whisky we recently created for a bar in New York City called The Spaniard, we decided to explore the sherried style further to create a new whisky for our permanent range. The name is a nod to our founder’s chance encounter with a man in the South of Spain, where he was introduced to Sherry for the first time."
"In this, our first release, 48% of the whiskies have been aged in ex-Sherry casks and 25% in ex-Spanish red wine casks. You will find a whisky that is full, soft and sumptuous on the palate with flavours of citrus peel and pears poached in red wine and spices. It’s a whisky ideal for late evening sipping or stirring into a cocktail."
Old Perth Macallan & Highland Park 14
$214.99
A blended malt composed of Highland Park and Macallan, distilled in 2004 and bottled at 14 years of age at 43.7%. I have to admit my blinders were on with this one. The old Perth line visually does nothing for me, which is not the best way to approach whisky. It is after all only the juice that matters. Secondly, the double barrel thing has been done lots, and rarely well. I was thinking gimmick... again, blinders, not proud of myself. Then it arrived in-store, I had to try it and it does not disappoint. Sadly, only 18 bottles are coming through KWM!
Andrew's Tasting Note
Nose: fig jam, Tiger Tail ice cream and fruity sherry; soft new leather, damp Cuban cigar tobacco, dark chocolate and maple syrup; chocolate ganache cake with a side of moms rum soaked Christmas cake; a faint hint of the sea and soft peat smoke.
Palate: sweet and fruity but also drying and leathery; more maple syrup, Tiger Tail ice cream and fig jam; more dark chocolate ganache and Mom's Christmas cake; a touch nutty, the damp sweet Cuban cigar tobacco is still there with some fancy new leather and a curious creamy vanilla-honey backbone; a touch of oily peat, sea breeze and engine oil, but you have to look for it.
Finish: sweet, fruity and smooth; a fine balance of candied fruits, dark chocolate, tobacco, syrup and oak.
Comment: this is far from the gimmick I feared; I suspect it is a sherry finish, but who cares it is eminently drinkable; it will also be gone in a flash!
Scotch Malt Whisky Society Peat Faerie
$164.99
PEAT FAERIE
The Society's second-ever blended malt, this 10 year old is a combination of 1st fill barrels and refill hogsheads from Speyside and Islay, and comes in at 50%.
Flavour profile: Lightly peated.
Outturn: 2948 bottles.
Panel's tasting note: "The Panel enjoyed the gentle unfurling of aroma in this one. A soft but smoky heather ale note emerges at first, followed by freshly rolled oats, a smouldering hay bail, wet beach pebbles and a hint of buttery marmite toast. Water reveals lemon wax, orange bonbons, smoked teas and Sudocrem.
The peat is louder in the mouth, a big, bold and leanly muscular wave of drying phenols and hot air from a peat furnace. Some anthracite smoke, a distant puffer-boat exhaust and finally a return to more farmyard qualities with cow sheds, earth and wood embers. A suggestion of green peppercorns in brine and a soothing sootiness. Reduction produces notes of roasted pine cone, frying bacon and freshly ground black pepper along with a meaty, fennel sausage note."
Compass Box Tobias and the Angel
$749.99
This is a very special limited edition Compass Box Blended Malt composed of old Clynelish and Caol Ila. Bottled at 47.6%.
Producer Tasting Note
"Distant bonfires underlay ethereal herbal and fruit characters, the result of extended maturation."
Producer Description
"Made from just two parcels of whisky, which we are unlikely to source again at these ages, Tobias & the Angel is a culmination of two decades of whiskymaking. We have a long-held reverence for the whiskies of the Clynelish and Caol Ila Distilleries. Ever since Eleuthera, which we created in 2002, we have understood that these two distillery whiskies complement each other exquisitely. So great is our reverence for the flavour profiles of these distilleries, and so elevated are the ages of the individual whiskies we have used in this blend, to inspire our label artwork we turned to the paintings of the Renaissance."
"We’ve chosen Tobias & the Angel, produced at the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio in the 15th century. One of the young apprentices, and the painter of the small tousle-haired dog and the gleaming fish Tobias carries, was Leonardo da Vinci. We love the beauty in the work, and the symbolism of the naïve boy and the divine angel. It speaks to how we see the relationship between the ethereal character of the 24-year-old whisky, sourced from the Clynelish Distillery, and the aromatic smokiness exhibited by the considerably older spirit from Caol Ila Distillery. Like the painting, this whisky charms and dazzles. It is a singular work, a testament to all we have learned in nearly 20 years of whisky blending."
Adelphi The E & K
$157.49
A unique fusion of Scotch whisky from Ardmore and Glenrothes distilleries and malt whiskies from Amrut Distillery in India, The E&K is an exquisite tribute to a remarkable Scot: Victor Alexander Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin and 13th Earl of Kincardine. 57.8%.
Producer Tasting Note
Appearance: vibrant copper gold.
Aroma: tropical fruits to the fore: papaya, ripe mango and fresh fruit salad. Tempered by sweet, sooty smoke and moorland scents, with spices, coconut, milk chocolate and lingering hessian.
Taste: Fruit salad with fresh pepper, sweet and surprisingly rich. Peat smoke and Arbroath Smokies combine well with Highland Toffee and dark chocolate.
Finish: Distant peat fires, bitter chocolate, exotic spices and dusty fruit.
Producer Notes
Content: 1 American oak barrel distilled at Ardmore, Highland; part of an ex-Sherry butt distilled at Glenrothes, Speyside; and 2 American oak barrels distilled at Amrut, Bangalore. Packaging: Adelphi bottle, bespoke blue gift box with inner panel, 4 bottles per case.
Inspiration Behind the E&K
"Victor Alexander Bruce, 9th Earl of Elgin and 13th Earl of Kincardine, was born in 1849. He spent a lifetime in public service, as a Liberal politician and as Viceroy of India. Known as “the Walking Viceroy”, his progressive and humanitarian policies helped the subcontinent through drought and shaped the extensive railway system still in place today.
"A unique fusion of Scotch whisky from Ardmore and Glenrothes distilleries and malt whiskies from Amrut Distillery in India, The E&K is an exquisite tribute to a remarkable Scot.
Adelphi Glenborrodale Batch 6
$98.99
Although legally only 8 years of age, the whisky is composed of components that are mainly older. A mariage of single malts from Highland Park, Bunnahabhain, Tamdhu and Glenrothes along with young sherry matured whisky from Glenrothes.
Producer's Tasting Note
"Dark gold in colour; Drawn from two Sherry Butts.
"Summer Scottish breakfast with buttered oatcakes and heather honey; dark cherry, white peach and kiwi fruit compote; and hazelnut spread on welltoasted drop scones."
