Blended Scotch doesn’t need a sales pitch. The hugely popular style, which combines malt and grain whisky ingredients into an approachable whole, accounts for more than 90 percent of all Scotch whisky sales worldwide. In fact, it’s the most widely consumed category of whisky on the planet.
Yet among a certain subset of connoisseurs (i.e. single malt drinkers), it is persistently derided as being of inferior quality.. For them, accessibility is seen as a flaw rather than a feature. or make it easy for me to drink or may be worthy of their critical admiration.
Compass Box is an outlier: it does it both ways. Founded in 2000 by the former marketing director of Johnnie Walker, the brand has a mission to “make the world of Scotch whisky a more interesting place.” It achieves this beautiful blend in one fell swoop. And this month, the Core Collection expands to include two new bottlings that even the snobbiest single malt sippers will have a hard time mocking.
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First up is Nectarosity, a 92-proof blended Scotch designed to evoke the aromas and flavors of French pastries. As advertised, it smells like a cinnamon Danish whisky. On the palate, there’s brioche, toffee, and a hint of wildflower honey. As a result, the whisky has a syrupy richness that’s reminiscent of what you’d expect from a well-aged single malt. To achieve this result, the whiskey makers relied on a series of pure charred American oak barrels, along with barrels seasoned with palo cortado sherry.
While most blended whiskeys on the market today can’t (or aren’t allowed to) disclose the whiskeys used in their creations, Compass Box is a champion of transparency. It proudly discloses the base grain (sourced from Girvan Distillery) and star malt (a rich liquid from Clynelish) in its blend. Nectarosity hits U.S. shelves this month with a suggested retail price of $65 per bottle.
It will be joined by a slightly pricier sibling called Crimson Casks ($75), a veritable sherry bomb that sings with dark fruit and baking spice. This one, too, is a blended malt rather than a blended Scotch, though bottled at 92 proof. The difference is that it combines whiskies from a handful of single malt producers without using lighter grain spirits—something self-described connoisseurs constantly complain about.
The other two bottlings in Compass Box’s Core Collection, the unapologetically smoky Peat Monster and the autumn-fruit-heavy Orchard House, are also blended malts.
Meanwhile, you’ll find plenty of other blended Scotch whiskies across the entire Compass Box portfolio. It never shies away from leaning into style. And Scotch whiskey fans of all stripes should never shy away from exploring them either. While this brand does its best to deliver on its promise of “more interesting” Scotch, enthusiasts can only open themselves up to the beauty of the blend by acknowledging it.
Related: I’ve Tasted Hundreds of Whiskeys. This Classic Luxury Scotch Is the Best You Can Get