Compass Box Phenomenology

I’ve been working my way through this bottle for the past 8-10 weeks and I just recently finished it, while finally getting some thoughts together about it. This bottle was released simultaneously with the peated, No Name. That bottle was CBW’s heaviest peated whisky to date and it cracked my Top 6 whiskies of all time. So, I really had high hopes for this one, too. First off, let’s go over what went into this blend. Now for starters, John Glaser and CBW pride themselves on transparency when it comes to what they put in every bottle, but this time around they played their cards a little closer to the vest until well after the release. They wanted people to judge it on flavor alone and asked drinkers to guess what they thought was in the bottle. A bit of a change for them, but that was kind of cool. I guess it was late December/early January before they released the make-up: Phenomenology is 72% Glenlossie (recharred hogshead), 24.5% Tamdhu (first fill oak), 2% Highland Park (recharred oak), 1% Talisker (refilled white oak) and 0.5% Caol Ila (hogshead). So they are expecting sweet, Speyside style whisky with a hint of smoke. Sounds nice. The color is yellow gold and it’s quite oily in the Glencairn. It makes some slow forming legs while leaving behind small droplets near the rim. This hits the ABV sweet spot at 46%. The nose is semi-complex: berries, orchard fruits, bananas all dominate the opening before yielding to what I’d describe as a candle shop. The smoke comes and goes when you put your nose down in it. One minute it’s there, the next it’s gone. It’s a bit frustrating, but looking at the low percentages of peated stock I guess it’s understandable. The palate feels very waxy initially. Almost like you’re rolling melted candle wax around on your tongue. It’s intriguing, but the wax flavor tends to keep the fruity notes from making a statement. Mid-sip I got a nice spice hit and some ginger snap cookies before it turned towards a traditional whisky with oak tannins and vanilla. It’s surprisingly complex, but that waxy texture and note keeps things too separate IMO. The finish is medium length and oily with some nice florals mixing in- where did they come from? The waxy aspect is completely gone, which is great and the final bits are warming and welcome. It doesn’t linger too long and it doesn’t finish dry at all. All pluses here. Overall, I’m a bit more mixed than I expected or wanted to be. The waxy bits and lack of distinct smoke bring the score down, but the complex palate and nice finish raise it up. It’s better than a middle of the road blend, but it’s not a top tier dram like I’ve come to expect from Compass Box. This bottle has slightly risen in price as well, and now fetches $175-199 US and that’s a bit too high for something that doesn’t reach 5 star level for me. As it is, it’s a solid 4 with maybe a slight dip because of price. Cheers, my friends.

I decided to take the Compass Box phenomenological challenge. In addition to their incredible ability to craft new spirits, I have also been intrigued with this company’s level of creativity in design and marketing. They chose “Phenomenology” as this new product‘s name, and the eponym is based on the study of human consciousness and the subjective experience. Their website encourages people to “experience this whisky without preconception and to first describe the ‘phenomena’ of the liquid for themselves, in their own words and ideas.” Around mid December Compass Box will release the actual recipe, but they do concede the creation to be a blended malt consisting of 5 ingredients. The first 2 components make up 72% and 24.5% of total liquid volume, while the remaining 3 parts only account for the final 3.5%. In the glass, the spirit is an ideal gold in color. Testing the legs proves comical because the wave of liquid on the side of the glass refuses to separate and do its job. Finally forming and starting their descent, the threads suddenly come to an abrupt halt in a seeming demonstration of union solidarity. Losing patience, I moved to the nose, and a splendid nose it turned out to be. The first alcoholic whiff of the 46% ABV fluid showed hints of solvent or turpentine. This auspicious beginning had me thinking old wood and/or old spirit. Digging deeper was an absolute pleasure with thick waves of honeyed vanilla followed by a sudden gush of heavy apple and lemon citrus. Now, I’m not usually one to empty out the spice cabinet, but I also found distinct elements of candle wax, bubble gum, and antique wood surrounding a floral bouquet. At this juncture, the concoction already gave me a good clue as to its primary ingredient. Moving to the palate was a continuation of joy. With viscosity matching its legs, it moved across the tongue with the smoothness of silk. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, grapenut custard ice cream on Mom’s apple pie were the themes for this course. Before leaving the dessert table, I also left a little room for lemon cake with almonds. As anticipated, the finish was slightly briny, waxy (Clynelish), and immensely satisfying. The addition of water to this dram would be sacrilegious, but at the risk of death by lightning bolt, I did add a drop to see it haze. I’m going to guess the primary constituent of this whisky to be Clynelish. It’s deeper gold than Clynelish 14yo, and eerily similar to CB 3 Year Old Deluxe (90% Clynelish 24yo), so based on this and other factors, I surmise the Clynelish piece to be approximately 20 years old. Finally, there is a sherry aspect to this expression that could also be attributed to Clynelish (speculative), or one of its other brethren. Now, I’m no phenomenologist, but phenomenologically speaking, this whisky is phenomenal and I rate at 5 stars.

I often say how Compass Box dissapoints me, and i have noticed that it is my fault for putting to much faith on every expression due to their great marketing and overall hype. When i had the "No Name" those paradigms changed and i said i loved it. No Name has a "sister bottle" (they were release kinda together) and it is this "Phenomenology", whose name comes from a phsycology school of thought, that it is all about how people experience different things on one same object. That is why they "held" the tasting notes on this one, for us to debate on what flavors and aromas we can find on this "Dissonant blend, form 72% Glenlossie 24.5% Tamdhu in bourbon cask, 2% Highland Park, 1% Talisker and 0.5% Caol Ila". This sounds nice! But, does it live to its expectations? Well ... lets see: Bottled at 46%abv, golden color. On the nose it is quite beautiful. Red apples, vanilla, feels like a GLENFARCLAS (this is how it felt, i didn't read anything about this whisky before tasting it so i threw this impression in my notes. There is no Glenfarclas in this hahaha.) Coca cola that lost its gas, pears, cantaloupe, tobacco, dry grass, a pineapple juice (this note was so clean and easy to find). Rancid vanilla. NO PEAT. On the palate is a little simple. Apples, Cinnamon, pepper, pineapple, vanilla. It is oily. I feel that Compass Box often prefers an easy-going palate, and maybe that is why it tends to lose points in my scorecard. Aftertaste is more of the same, apples and spices like cinnamon and clove. Overall this feels like your typical speysider. I couldn't find any peaty notes, the nearest ones were dry grass and tobacco. Well, i wanted to validate my notes on this, so i started watching some youtube reviews to see if everyone gets something different as Compass Box Claims. They all had something very similar to my notes (except the coca cola without gas, lol). Some of them find very little peat, which i didn't. I don't think this is a bad dram, i just find it too speysider and it fails to deliver the talisker and Highland Park notes, maybe the Caol Ila citrusness was there. My score for it, is a rough 80 over 100.

Phenomenology is Phenomenal. Har har. Okay sorry that was lame joke to open up this review. Back in late 2018 I was holding out hope that I'd actually find one of these bottles at SRP locally. Of course, with the proliferation of self proclaimed "whiskey connoisseurs" flocking the streets of sunny Southern California, that hope would never come to pass. I all but forgot about this bottle. And then, deep from within the depths of some forgotten storage room somewhere on the east coast, a bottle was found. And I was notified. Yeah I paid dearly for this bottle. But this could have been my last chance, my fleeting opportunity to taste the one that was never to be. The nose smells of apricots, citrus and peaches swimming in a bowl of sweetened cream. It tails off with the familiar smell of vanilla mixed with some baking spice. The first thing you notice about this whiskey is the mouth feel. Its so creamy and rich, its really quite dessert like. Sweet peaches and melon opens up the taste, followed by vanilla and baking spice all riding that creamy feel throughout. There is a drier quality between the taste and finish, as the creaminess subsides; that actually really reminds me of their core offering "Spice Tree". That dry taste reminds me of some slightly worn leather goods. The finish is a tad bit waxy and does start spicy but melts away to that familiar drier finish. As that taste all but subsides a faint kiss of honeydew comes out of left field and then is gone in an instant, leaving you feeling a bit disappointed. I wish that sweet melon finish wasn't quite so fleeting. Overall a wonderfully complex and delicious blended whiskey. Was it worth the wait and price? Eh, 50-50 but you can be the judge.... if you can still find a bottle that is.

"Phenomenology: The Philosophical study of the Structures of experience and consciousness" Epic Name. This is by far one of my favourite whiskies of 2017 maybe one of the best I've ever had. I was lucky enough to try this at the Whisky show earlier this year, I was blown away. As expected from Compass Box it has a hell of a lot going on, you will pick up new flavours every time you go back to it. This dram has all of my favourite things in one bottle, tropical notes backed up by peat and a rich creamy texture. Nose Light citrus and sweetened pineapple backed up by a hint of shortbread and a hint of salty peat. Palate Beautifully rich mouthfeel, almost like creamy custard with juicy citrus and a hind of red berries Finish Lemon merging, chewy Marshmallows with a lingering salted peat and a late medicinal hit, it's like a "peaty pudding"

I was never going to buy this after their odd comments, but a friend sent me a sample and I had a bottle the next day. Nose - Salt, vanilla, peach, cream, and a touch of green apple. Taste - Soft alcohol, fruity, vanilla, and tonight I'm getting a fairly decent amount of toasted oak. I'm getting a bit of a mix between a white bread and a light pastry with vanilla icing on it. Then there's that touch of citrus jelly almost like a jelly filled doughnut way in the back. There's a touch of bitter from the oak on the end, perhaps a touch of tea. Finish - here those salty and savory notes come back in with a rich vanilla. Compass Box has had a few misses lately and their prices are certainly creeping up as the age of the spirit goes down, but this one really is one of their best from the last few years.