.compass box - hedonism - 2007

The Hedonism from Compass Box is a blended grain whisky. Yes, you read that right, a blended grain. When the company started in 2000, the Hedonism was their first release. A bold move, since back then - even more then now, grain whiskies were neglected as being "proper" whiskies and were almost only used for sweet fillers in blends. Each year, Compass Box releases a new batch of this rare grain blend, all releases different from the previous ones and all with a very limited number of bottles per batch, where anything from eight to 17 casks are married together.

43% abv, €65, blended grain, non-chill filtered, natural colour

Nose: sweet, vanilla, toffee, milk chocolate, herbal, oatcake, rye-bread, fruit, peaches, yellow plums, mint, eucalyptus

Palate: sweet, vanilla, toffee, sugar, caramel, fruit, peaches, plums, citrus, pineapples, nuts, milk chocolate, mint

Finish: long, marmalade bitters, nuts, fresh walnuts, menthol
Mark: ++++/+

Conclusion: this is good stuff, I even think I fell in love with her. Knowing this particular release might be hard to find, I will keep a look out for more recent versions.

More info: From the label we can read: Vatted Grain Scotch Whisky, where we know that the term "Vatted" is no longer allowed to be used by whisky making Scotland. Therefore we know this is one of the earlier batches of the Hedonism, and if I read the faded print on the miniature correctly (L270306??22BB), it is most likely the 2007 release. There is no clue as to which grains are in this vatted grain, at least, not that I can find them. I will take pointers from anyone willing to give them.