The Peat Monster whisky is part of the Signature Range from the Compass Box Whisky Co. Compass Box is a specialist, small batch Scotch whisky maker. American ex-pat John Glaser started Compass Box Whisky Company in 2000.
His vision has been to create one of Scotland’s finest and most exciting whisky companies, re-establishing the industry’s standards for quality and style.Compass Box does not distil any of the whiskies used in its blends.
The company’s whisky makers select distillates from several existing Scotch whisky distilleries, including malts from Ardmore, Caol Ila, Clynelish, Dailuaine, Glen Elgin, Laphroaig and Teaninich.
They also make use of grain whiskies from Cameronbridge and Cambus. The selected whiskies are then blended, and the resulting blend is matured further. According to Compass Box, blending these various whiskies and then ageing them in selected woods allows for a more complex, multi-layered whisky.
This Peat Monster malt Scotch contains whisky from a few distilleries. Some were from the village of Port Askaig in Islay, with a few south coast Islay whisky too, vatted with Ardmore. It was matured in a mix of first-fill and refill American oak casks.
None of the Compass Box bottlings is chill-filtered, nor is any colouring added and are all married exclusively in American oak.
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Compass Box The Peat Monster Whisky Review
ABV: 46%
COLOUR: Compass Box The Peat Monster has a light golden colour, and it seems to be a thick oily whisky in the glass.
NOSE: The peat hits you on first nosing the whisky. It has the classic Islay notes of sea and salt. It seems softer than the other Islay whiskies such as the Ardbeg on the nose. But the notes iodine and medicinal TCP lingers in the background as expected. It has faint hints of fruit lingering in the nose that comes through.
PALATE: On the palate, without the addition of water, the peat comes through straight away. With the addition of water, there are medicinal notes intertwined with hints of sweetness and fruit. The Compass Box Peat Monster is a medium-bodied whisky.
FINISH: Medium and ends in notes of peat and bits of orange and kumquat.
RATING: VERY GOOD.
It is not a very complex whisky. Compared to some of the distilleries that go into this, the Compass Box Peat Monster is more toned down and refined. The name of the whisky creates a certain expectation and sadly this does not quite life up to it. It is drinkable peaty whisky, however, it is by no means a Monster.
This dram also made it onto my favourite peated whisky list. You can read this article all the other peated drams that also made it onto the list.
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