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Creating world Class Scotch Whiskies is an arduous task that takes the proper ingredients, time, and a tremendous amount of god-given patience.

There is a freedom an outsider has in a tradition bound business. After many years in the wine trade, John Glaser, an American, entered the world of Scotch Whisky.

Learning his art through one of the industries largest companies, John developed a passion for Scotch whisky and dreamt of starting his own company. In 2000, he started the Compass Box Whisky company, fine tuning his first whiskies in his kitchen. Known for seeking evolutions of traditional techniques, particularly in oak maturation, he says, Our role at Compass Box is to nurture the roots of tradtition, in order to grow the possibilities.” Today, John Glaser is considered one of the most respected whisky makers of his generation.

Compass Box makes a variety of Scotch Whisky in two main ranges, their signature range and their limited release range. Today we’ll look at the three amazing world-class whiskies that make up their Signature range.

The Signature Range from Compass Box.

The three Scotch whiskies in this range offer the spectrum of Scotch whisky style, from the delicate, sweet character of Asyla, to the rich, spicy, malty character of Oak Cross, to the peaty-smoky character of Peat Monster. Each is made from casks chosen individually, cask-by-cask, to ensure perfect maturity. The casks are combined according to recipe and returned to wood for “marrying” up to 12 months before bottling. Steps like these enhance complexity, flavor integration and soft mouth-feel. Extra steps, but they’re worth it.

PEAT MONSTER

For those who love big, rich smoky-peaty malt whiskies, this is your whisky. Peat Monster combines very smoky and peaty whiskies from the island of Islay with rich, medium-peated Speyside whisky. The result is a balanced, very drinkable peaty malt.

Complex and Multilayered. A malt whisky for real peat heads, and for lovers of complex, multilayered whiskies. What makes it fit into the Compass Box house style is the balance of richness and subtle sweetness that the old casks of Ardmore provide to the smoky-peaty Islay malts. This is the great benefit of combining single malts from different distilleries. They are not limited to the produce of one distillery. Like a wine maker blending grape varieties, they can create layers of complexity. And, as of late 2007, they have introduced even more complexity by adding some south shore Islay malt to enhance the peatiness and earthiness.

OAK CROSS

They call this malt whisky Oak Cross because it offers the best characteristics of both American and French oak aging. A rich, medium-bodied malt whisky, Oak Cross combines vanilla characters from American oak and spicy, clove-like characters from French oak.

Innovative New Oak Casks – Compass Box works with a small mill in France that produces some of the highest quality cooperage oak in the world. It was our work with this mill that led us to experimenting with secondary maturation of malt whiskies in casks fitted with new French oak heads. This is something no one else in Scotland does. The result is malt whisky with more character and complexity. We use this technique on about 50% of the malt whisky in Oak Cross and it results in a superior finished product.

ASYLA

The ultimate “everyday,” “before dinner” or “Sunday afternoon” Scotch whisky. With just a splash of chilled water, this blend of soft, sweet grain whiskies and elegant, refined malt whiskies epitomises deliciousness in the world of Scotch.

The Secret is in the Oak – The secret to making Asyla is the quality of the casks. Only whiskies aged in first-fill American oak casks are used because these yield whiskies with more vanilla character, more richness and more sweetness than refill casks. There is no other blended Scotch whisky on the market that uses whiskies of this quality. Also, there are few blended Scotches that use 50% malt whisky as we do (all unpeated malt whiskies). The result is a carefully crafted, elegant Scotch whisky that makes the perfect aperitif.

If you want more information about Compass box CLICK the ad on the right side of our site in order to visit their site.These great whiskies can be found in fine spirits stores everywhere.

Our good friend Robin Robinson is the Brand Ambassador for Compass Box Whisky. Robin first came upon single malt Scotch whiskies in 1984 when he faked his way through hosting a Scotch whisky dinner for a bunch of Park Avenue swells while knowing absolutely nothing about the subject he was talking about. After cleaning off the tar and feathers, he bought his first single malt Scotch and a love affair was born. Since then, Robin has cast a wary eye on anyone calling themselves an “expert”.

Mr. Robinson edits the whisky blog found at  www.onemalt.com.