Compass Box Flaming Heart Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (700ml)

Whisky enthusiasts should be aware of Compass Box, an already lengendary specialist Scotch whisky company founded in 2000 devoted to making some of Scotland's most unique blends. John Glaser, Whisky Blender & Company Founder, runs Compass Box in a similar fashion to fine wine negociants. The company chooses individual casks of whisky from different distilleries that offer complementary sets of flavours. They then carefully blend these casks in small batches to make proprietary whiskies.

'Flaming Heart' is part of the company's limited edition range. Composed of single malts sourced from distilleries primarily from the south shore of Islay and the village of Brora (Highlands), it's matured in a combination of refill American oak (ex-Bourbon), new French oak (heavily toasted) and sherry casks. Like the rest of the Compass Box range, this is non chill filtered.

Other reviews... A marriage of three different single malts, aged in American and French oak. This whisky shows the advantage of marrying whiskies from more than one distillery (when properly done). Vibrant, with a complex array of fruit (orchard fruit, sultana), sweetness (light toffee, marzipan, honeyed malt), spice (creamy vanilla, mocha, warming pepper), smoke (tar, smoked olive, coal), and lesser notes of toasted almond and beach pebbles. More smoke and tar on the palate than the nose, yet always in balance. Well played! (Editor's Choice) 48.9% Alc./Vol.
95 points www.maltadvocate.com (Vol. 19, #4) Reviewed by: John Hansell size>