The Compass Box, Myths and Legends 1

Single Malt Whisky from Balblair distillery in Scotland

The Compass Box is a Scotch whisky making company founded in 2000 by American entrepreneur John Glaser, formerly a marketing director for Johnnie Walker. The company exclusively blends, and with no distillery of its own, a significant portion of its whisky comes from Clynelish distillery in the Highlands of Scotland.

Myths and Legends 1 is the first in a trio of expressions created to blast some of the myths associated with whisky making. Each expression challenges a different myth. This expresions challenges the myth that blending is restricted to blended whisky. Not so. Even when creating single malts, master blenders will blend many different malt casks from the same distillery to create their own house style.

Two parcels of malt whisky from Balblair distillery in the Northern Highlands of Scotland had different taste profiles. The younger parcel was malty and citrusy whereas the older parcel was creamy and had a ripe fruit character. By blending them together, the Compass Box has created a single malt full of fragrance with a more rounded complexity.

The lead blenders were Jill Boyd and James Saxon and they selected 57.9% from first fill bourbon barrels and the remaining 42.1% from recharred American oak barrels. It was bottled in July 2019 at 46% abv with natural colour and no chill-filtration.