Compass Box This Is Not a Luxury Whisky

I've been dying to bust open a nicer bottle in my collection at some point through the holidays, and between work and now some bad weather, I've finally had some spare time (stuck) at home so I grabbed for the bottle that has been intriguing me the most since I bought it: This Is Not A Luxury Whisky from John Glaser and Compass Box. Silly name and packaging aside, let's get into this one properly. It's packaging is a flimsy, cardboard box and the bottle label appears to be hand-written with a cheap, gold marker. There was only a thin strip of gold, foil tape (reminiscent of old, cheap American bourbon) going across the cork. It was easily opened with a quick snip from a pocket knife. (Quick note: that should be considered shameful as there is some really old and expensive juice in the blend and to not air seal the cork is reprehensible.). I get the whole premise here with the cheap looking packaging and actually find it humorous, as intended. It's cask strength at 106.2 proof, is non-chill filtered and has no added color. This bottling was limited to just under 5,000 bottles and I found it online for just shy of $180. A bargain considering newer CBW releases have been asking close to $300 (Circus, 3 Year Deluxe). Enough babbling, on to reviewing what's inside. It's slick and deep amber in color and giving it a spin in the Glencairn causes it to stick like glue to the sides of the glass. Not much leg action at all. Thick and oily. After resting for about 20 minutes the nose is amazing: new leather belt, chocolate, gentle smoke and ripe bananas. I could sit and nose this one all day long. That first sip is heavenly. The initial heat from the high proof just sizzles your tongue to life. As the heat subsides your tongue is left oily with quite a bit more smoke than I expected (30 year old Caol Ila is the only smoky malt used and it makes up around 4% of the blend). There's underlying notes of leather again, figs and wet hay. There's a bit of caramel-covered apple as well. Freaking incredible! The finish is long, bitter and a bit hot but damn if it doesn't feel like it really needs to be. It burns away the oil left behind on the palate and leaves you begging for another hit. As it settles, a faint wisp of smoke rises up and singes the nose to remind you that you're drinking whisky right now. It's a completely amazing experience. I get it, John Glaser. This isn't a luxury whisky because it needs to be drank. Setting this ugly bottle on your bartop should lead to your friends grabbing it, popping the cork, blurting out "I'll just try this one", turning the bottle to the sky and gasping for breath as they instantly become scotch whisky fans. Now, if you'll kindly make more of this while dropping the asking price to around $100 a bottle... Wrapping up this long-winded review, so I can drink some more, I gotta say (without going through my entire scotch review list) that this blended whisky has jumped to the top of my non-peated favorites list. Go online, find the remaining bottles of this non-luxury sauce, and buy one. If I could give it more than 5 stars on this non-luxury whisky app, I would. Cheers, you bottom shelf whisky sippers. Lol

This is not a review. The bottle is very interesting. The contents are interesting too. But not as much as the bottle, which is ironic. The bottle misses the irony, as well. It should be labeled “This is not luxury.” The famous painting this Compass Box release draws inspiration from is a Rene Magritte painting of a cigar pipe that reads “Ceci n’est pas une pipe (This is not a pipe).” And it’s not a pipe. The painting is an abstraction of the object. This bottle of whisky is an object, and luxury is the abstraction. Hence, potentially, Compass Box could have had the clever, artful flip, scrutinizing an object representing the abstraction; the opposite of Magritte’s painting. But they missed the cleverness. “This Is Not a Luxury Whisky” is just a clunky reference that feels like a gimmick. And the message telling you that a whisky is about the liquid, and it should be drank is nauseating exposition. “This Is Not Luxury” would have been the perfect name. No exposition. I mean, you can include notes and objective information. But I hate being told how to interpret something. And it’s not luxury. It’s got grain in it. 40 year old grain whisky, but it’s grain whisky, and I’m not into it. Not my thing. Most of this whisky is 19 year old Glen Ord malt, and that gives this blend a Highland fruity and floral base. But I can’t escape the feeling that when you mix 40 year old grain with a 19 year old malt, you get something that tastes like a 15 year old whisky. It’s those acetone, banana notes. It’s richer and more oily here, but it’s not something I immediately am going to like. Yeah, I’m not sure about the grain. It’s one of those things that is interesting for me, but not necessarily attractive. Like dwarves. Anyways, the grain loses its grip on the spotlight quickly, and things get better. The finish is one of the most dynamic and complex of any whisky I’ve had. The Islay minority that was suppressed on the nose, and the arrival, starts to unpretty this whisky, and it just goes back and forth between salty and savory, and sweet and toffied for a long time. And at 53.1% ABV, you get some great aftertastes if you exhale the right way. Water in a blend generally kills the oldest components first. So, on the one hand, I may actually enjoy this more without the obvious contribution from the grain; on the other hand, adding water makes this more common, and less worth the price tag. This is a great whisky. Is it worth two Flaming Hearts? No. PRESUMPTIVE MARK: 94/100.

One of the first high end bottles i bought for my home bar, was this limited edition from Compass Box, a very good looking bottle called "This is Not a Luxury Whisky". Of course, the name and the whole concept of the bottle comes from an artistic background, as most Compass Box do. In the late 1920s, a famous belgian painter called René Magritte painted a pipe, and underneath the pipe he wrote: "this is not a pipe". The surrealistic meaning of the artwork was clear, to say it was not a pipe, when it clearly was a painting of a pipe. The same concept is applied here, stating that this is not a Luxury whisky, will make it most definitively a luxurious one. Bottled at 53.1%abv, it has a beautiful golden color that can't be appreciated while in the bottle, because the decanter is black. On the nose, it is near perfect. Orange peels, tangerine and tobacco leaf. Burnt gray grass, white chocolate and coconut Cream. After a while breathing, it released lemon peel, meringue. There is a very unmistakable note of white Ritter chocolate with almonds. Cigarrettes. The palate is very peaty. Super unexpected. Tobacco and ashes. Salt and maritime notes. A second sip gave me a fancy, thick bodied vanilla. Oily. Orange acidity on the second sip. Sulphur; metallic. Creamy and acid. Aftertaste is wonderfully peaty as well. Salt; maritime kelp, ashes. It is actually super salty. A wet ashtray and cigarrettes. Overall this was a complete surprised. I have drank a lot of expressions from Compass Box and i expect some peatiness out of them, but this is really three steps above any other release. In a blind tasting, i would never have guessed this one as a CB for two reasons, you can't find that typical "Glen Elgin - Clynelish" profile they often use; and, it resembles more to a single malt than to a blended scotch. I actually would have made a wild guess and said that this is the rare Mackinlay Shackleton old highland malt, (the Whyte & Mackay replica made by Richard Patterson), because it has this old, grassy tobacco peat note. Outstanding whisky really, my score for it is a very well deserved 95 out of a 100.

So I'm finally getting around to reviewing this limited release from Compass Box Whisky. I was lucky enough to get a generous sample from my friend Lee. I've had it for a while and since I'm between rounds of our distillery tour now is the perfect time to get to know it. This is a blended scotch with malts from Caol Ila and Glen Ord and grain whisky from Girvan and Strathclyde. The Caol Ila is only 4% of the total recipe but it's a mature 30 years old. Bottled at cask strength, 53.1% ABV, natural color of golden syrup and non chill filtered. The nose starts with a sort of sherry citrus like lemons and raisins. After some time it turns more to dark cherries and dates. New leather and cocoa powder. Softer notes like coconut cream, vanilla and fudge come into existence with toasted oak and a nice thread of smoke. Plums and prunes and some nice floral notes are in there as well. There is a lot of American oak at play here presenting notes like ripe banana, caramel and toffee and maybe some almonds. Very mature, full and rich. The palate arrives very peppery and powerful, a huge surprise compared to the nose. Sherry oak, leather and cherry syrup. Like the nose I get coconut cream, cocoa and vanilla. There is a faint orange note in there as well. Caramel, cinnamon and clove. After that it's just more peppery assaults on the tongue. Quite strong. A very oily mouthfeel. Mouthwatering at first but it does turn dry. The finish is medium long, slightly smoky with sherry oak and cherry. I wasn't really sure what kind of profile I was expecting here, but I am certainly not walking away disappointed. It's powerful but has an elegance to it. I have to say, as good as it is I think I prefer the Lost Blend over this one. It's the palate that was the deciding factor. It's just too strong to be a relaxing sipper. It demands much of you unless you add water, which I don't really enjoy doing. Still, I'm very happy to say that I have had a taste of this very limited release. Thanks Lee. Closer to 4.25 than 4.5 Cheers

We shall get the jazz out of the way. This is possibly my favorite compass box bottle design of all time. The simple gold marker on a black nearly but not opaque glass. The cheap box with the rather nice use of gold foil, the inner lining of the box making more snide remarks. It's just perfect. The whisky goes on to play with the chidlish "malt" drinkers who feel some kind of superiority for malt over grains...most of whom have never had quality aged grain whisky. It's a near perfect slap to the face of the snobbery of whisky's past. All and all cheers on a quality product without the stupidity! OK on to the nose. This is starting on its way to being sherry bomb territory. Spices, dark fruits, underlying custard and vanilla. You can get just on the nose oils and a touch of waxy notes, I'm down right shocked this isn't a clynelish blend, it checks all their traditional boxes. Though I certainly am not surprised that there's Caol Ila here. On the pallet the waxy fruity oily notes shine through. There's a complex sweetness overlapped in baking spices. Perhaps some notes of corn candy which I could see turning a few away, but it quickly builds back up to those fruity sherry notes that everyone buying this bottle I'd hope were coming for. The finish is long, spicy, and savory with a long underlying candy sweatness. Another just outstanding bottle from Compassbox. I was lucky to find a dusty bottle still in the wild. This bottle very much holds up with some of John's much more expensive bottles. Completely worth it and the marketing jabs just add to the fun. Imagine someone drinking this and still thinking grain whisky is somehow inferior...blasphemy to the highest order.

This just validates my love affair with Compass Box. Yes, they're getting pricier and pricier---as evidenced by their latest offerings, but they do make good stuff. John Glaser and company have proven once again the artistry behind chemistry. Anyone can take mixes and blend them together, but it takes a real artist-chemist to take the right portions, the right age, and the right casks to make magic. I don't care much for their marketing and sticking-it-to-the-man type advertising ( like "3" which has a wee bit of a 3 year old Clynelish, and rest as 20+ year old Talisker and Clyenish), but they do make good stuff. This is a tinge of smoky, sweet--- Caol Ila written all over it. And a well mannered Caol Ila at that...obviously aged. Smoke, chocolate on the nose. Luscious creamy smoky milky texture on the tongue. Simply well made blend. ( Johnnie Walker...you taking notes?) Thanks to Lee for providing a generous sample! Lee---when I open up my "3", will need to send over a sample.