Compass Box 10th Anniversary PALS exclusive CS bottling

You may notice that there is no review #30 in this series, and that’s because I accidentally labelled 2 of my reviews as #10. Rather than ask our hosts to renumber all the following ones I thought I would skip 30 and just continue on…

Thanks to @Talexander for this generous sample. This is a cask strength 10th anniversary special bottling of a standard release by Compass Box.

This expression is reviewed in my usual manner, allowing it to settle after which I take my nosing and tasting notes, followed by the addition of a few drops of water, waiting, then nosing and tasting.

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Nose:

Neat – very closed compared to the conventional Peat Monster. Sweet peat. Less fruity than its conventional counterpart. 20/25

With water– Nose opens up a great deal, with citrus and light syrup. The peat is dusty. (22/25)

Taste:

Neat – sweet, mild peat on arrival. Ashy development. A little citrus. You can tell it is similar to the conventional peat monster, but not as flavourful. 20/25

With water– This is more like it! Burst of flavour on arrival, ash and citrus in the development, a little menthol in the background. (22/25)

Finish: Astringent, ashy on finish as the bitterness fades. Minimal change after water is added. 21/25

Balance: Underpowered neat. Pretty much just peat and only moderately so. Stronger but similar breadth with water. 21/25

Score: Neat - 82/100

With Water: 86 /100

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I read a review on All Things Whisky of Big Peat Christmas edition in which the author mentions he likes the 46% standard version better than the cask strength. This seems to be the case here, at least neat. My guess is that this one really needs water to open up and release its flavours.

At the end of the tasting I mixed the two together and the result was extremely pleasant.

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