Great King Street “Artist Blend’ NAS (43%, Compass Box, 2011)

John Glaser of Compass Box explains, “In a world where malt whisky gets all the attention, people often overlook the pleasures of good Blended Scotch. We believe that Great King Street will change this. There are good reasons why the blending of grain whisky and malt whisky has been the mainstay of the Scotch industry for over 100 years. Well-made Blended Scotches have an elegance and approachability that make them a joy to drink. Great King Street will offer a new and compelling alternative for both whisky enthusiasts who ordinarily drink only malt whiskies, and for whisky novices.

By applying the same skill, techniques and philosophy that we use for the Compass Box Signature Range of whiskies, Great King Street will offer a style and approach to Blended Scotch that has not existed before. The keys are using individually chosen casks from some of Scotland’s best distilleries, a high proportion of malt whisky, truly excellent quality grain whiskies, and the careful use of new French Oak aging for added complexity. All bottled at a natural colour and without chill-filtering. We call whiskies made with this approach ‘craft blends’.”

On the nose there is a good combination of honey vanilla and malt with a hint of grape fruit in the back ground. Also in the back ground is some welcome oak spice (black pepper, chilies, clove, nutmeg etcetera and all enhanced by some leather and tobacco notes). All very good rich and luxurious; the fruitiness of the grapefruit is also very good (think citrus of some fashion). The taste is quite honeyed at first and then the malt arrives while quickly being over taken by the grapefruit/citrus as previously described. The chilies are also present and again the consistent harmony of the malt, grapefruit/citrus and the oak spice is VERY good. The finish is a mirror image of the nose and the taste with a very pleasant addition of some dry unsweetened cocoa powder or even 90% chocolate. The finish is dead straight line rail lines heading towards the horizon and equally long.

Delightful; find a bottle and enjoy it.

$45

Score 88 points

Visit http://tinyurl.com/42czrfg and www.greatkingstreet.com for further information.