Compass Box - Just Ask

In the spring of 2016 Compass Box started a campaign for more transparency in Scotch whisky after they had to remove the full recipe of all components of two of their blends (you can read everything about that campaign here)

Fast forward half a year and not much  has changed and Compass Box has now ended their drive for more transparency for now.

But with the release of two new bottlings the company has also found a solution for their intent to provide the consumer all the information that they want. As difficult the problem seemed as simple is the solution: Just ask them. The regulations of the SWA forbid them to acticely promote another age statement than the youngest component of the blend. But if you just ask them by writing a mail or on social media they are free to provide you all the information they want to. 

I only see one problem and that is that you can't be 100% sure if the provided informations are true because I think what really matters, legally that is, are the informations on the label. Nevertheless I am sure that Compass Box won't provide wrong information or something but it's just the same as if you go to visit a distillery and they tell you something that isn't written on the label. You can only be 100% sure about the information on the label but Compass Box would also provide those information on the label if they could, wouldn't they?

The new releases are a blended malt called "Three Years Deluxe" which is a perfect example of the problem with current regulations. The blend contains 0.4% 3yo malt whisky produced near the village of Brora (it must be Clynelish), 90.3% malt whisky from the same distillry, but "considerably older" and 9.3% malt whisky from the Isle of Skye (Talisker).

The other new release is a blended malt called "Spice Tree Extravaganza" which marks 10 years since the inaugural version of the Spice Tree had to be discontinued because of the use of inner staves made of a special French oak. A second version of the Spice Tree was released later that used the same oak as cask heads. The Extravaganza comes at 46% ABV and contains older components than the core range and also has some Sherry influence. 

If you want to know the ages of the components go and ask them

Slainte, U

The Resurgence Of The Age Statement?

Everyone who has even the  slightest interest in whisky must by now have heard of the term NAS (no age statement). The regulations for Scotch whisky say that if an age is stated it must be the age of the youngest component in the bottle. In recent years (although NAS is much older) it has become a trend in the industry to omit that age statement. The reason is that distilleries want to mix younger stocks in the blend but don't want to write an age statement of let's say 5 years on the bottle. Some people see the disappearance of the age statement just as a natural development  others are a bit more sceptical and other people see it as a monster that is haunting the industry. I still remember when I started drinking whisky and the Macallan, a distillery that was a favourite of many Scotch lovers announced that it replaced their age statement series with no age statement whiskies and people almost started running riot.

Scotland Roadtrip Pt. II

Part 1

About a year ago I was bored and on a whim I logged into my twitter account that I had created a few years ago (but never really used) and started to follow a few whisky distilleries and bloggers. Back then I wasn't writing a blog or anything I was just a young whisky fanatic from Switzerland. Nevertheless I got a follow back from some whisky bloggers and other whisky enthusiasts which got me really excited. Ever since that day I am interacting with people from all around the world who share the same passion and it is really great fun. If you are on twitter you should check out the #whiskyfabric.
When I announced on twitter that I was going to Scotland I got a messsage from fellow whisky lover Justine Hazelhurst if I wanted to meet up in Edinburgh. Of course I wanted and so we arranged everything. Through a coincidence we chose a hotel in Leith which is the very same part of the city where Justine lives.
I was really excited to finally meet someone from twitter in real life and the evening with Justine didn't disappoint.
First we went to a Pub called Teuchter's Landing where Pascal and me finally got to drink a well deserved beer (We wanted to drink one in Folkestone but we didn't get the chance). After our pre dinner drinks we got a taste of a British classic - Fish n' Chips. We were quite hungry and we really enojoyed the meal. After the dinner we made our way to the bar to grab some drams.

 At Teuchter's Landing they got a very fun game going that is called the hoops of destiny. For £3.50 you get 3 hoops which you then throw at the bottles at the bar. If you can get a hoop around the neck of a bottle they will pour you a measure of that bottle. If you miss all 3 throws you get a glass of a blend called Sheep Dip so you won't walk away empty-handed. After playing the game we also hit two other Pubs and Justine gave us more suggestions what we could do in Edinburgh and Scotland than we could ever remember. It was really nice meeting Justine and you should check out her website.