Compass Box The Peat Monster

The nice kind of monster.

The year was 2000 when John Glaser started the Compass Box Whisky Company in his kitchen, actually. An American in the UK, he used to work for a large distiller before he thought, why not do Scotch Whisky differently and bring back the old model of the Scotch Whisky blending house. So, he committed himself to blending boutique Scotch Whiskies. But how did they go from kitchen to Blending Room in London with more than a dozen of employees, you ask? Not by compromising any quality, that's for sure. Sourcing only the best oak from the Vosges in France and the woods of Missouri, making your own custom casks and seeking only the best casks from the very best distilleries oughta do it. Oh, and unlike mass produced Whiskies, they are careful not to overdo it on the number of components in their blends.

Their Peat Monster has been around for a while, but this wild beast got a makeover in 2019. The new recipe includes older and more elegant Islay malts (Hey, monsters can age gracefully, too!).This means you'll be delighted to discover coastal flavors and some of that smokiness will be combined with driftwood fire and more medicinal peat notes. But wait, there's also orchard fruits and rich cask-derived creaminess to balance all that smoke. This Blended Malt is matured in first refill casks from the Caol Ila and Laphroaig distilleries and custom French oak. Bottled at 92 proof and it's not chill filtered, it's not such a monstrosity after all. In fact, we wouldn't mind running into this monster late at night.