Compass Box Spice Tree

This was tasted by four of us in a tasting with three other Scotches (Auchentoshan 12, Laphroaig Cardeas Fino and Ardbeg An Oa). Spice Tree is a blended malt Scotch whisky from independent blender Compass Box (John Glaser). It is non-chillfiltered and natural color. It uses an original "hybrid oak" casking with French oak for the cask heads and American oak for the bodies.

This is a really wonderful dram. I had been biased against Compass Box out of ignorance, thinking "oh, they make blended whisky -- not for me." How wrong I was! I've since learned more about them and what John Glaser and his colleagues are doing. This has definitely made me want to try more of their stuff. The ratings we gave (the four of us) were (by our initials) BO: 87, TF: 88, MF: 88, and CO: 89. I'm going to put in here our average. This is well-behaved and super well-crafted, but still very interesting. Often I want something "wilder." But not always. I'd offer this to people who are interested in Scotch, to get them more interested. I'd honestly be surprised if anyone didn't like this!