Fragrant Drops Single Cask & Compass Box Blend | 43% & 61.1% ABV

Where we call home.

We can pick where we call home now, right?

After spending my university and beyond years in Edinburgh, I moved to Glasgow and it’s the place I’ve called home for 17 or so years. So at this point in my life, it’s the place I’ve lived the longest, and when asked where I hail from these days, this is the place I think of. And with a not terribly exciting origin story that darts from Scotland to England, and back again, I definitely feel that if Scotland has my heart, then Glasgow’s where I choose to lay my proverbial hat.

The rivalry between Glasgow in the west and Edinburgh in the east is legendary, as Wally touched upon in his recent Bonnington piece, so I won’t attempt to top that. Whilst Edinburgh still has its charms, as well as a ton of memories, for me, it would be cheeky, gallus Glasgow that will win if it came to a fight. In fact, just such a (tongue in cheek) battle took place at the excellent recent ‘Glasgow Talks’ event in May, held at Glasgow venue Saint Luke’s, hosted by Mitch and Fraser of CopperCairn Whisky Experiences.

That afternoon, the Scottish capital and City of Culture went head-to-head in the form of a very entertaining panel, featuring Frank Murphy of Glasgow’s beloved Pot Still bar, and Mike Aikman of Edinburgh-based Bramble. So who won?

Well, Glasgow obviously (tongue firmly in cheek here too of course, before the troops are alerted, though I confess, I haven’t actually visited Bramble yet, so can’t say personally).

Part of that discussion focused on the relative merits of your more traditional whisky bar, where eye watering, jaw-droppingly stocked gantries and neat drams are generally the order of the day (think The Pot Still or Bon Accord in Glasgow, or Edinburgh’s Ensign Ewart), versus the newer and flourishing breed of cocktail bars in both cities, which were represented on the panel by Andy Gemmel of The Gate in Glasgow’s East End (also featuring a smashing whisky selection) and Mike of Bramble bar in the ‘Burgh.

I largely concur with what came out of that discussion; there’s more than room enough for both types of venue. In either venue in either city you’d be made similarly welcome, with a healthy dose of banter too. All the while they’d be happily catering to your whisky drinking preferences, whether your vessel of choice is a straight-up Glencairn, or a tumbler with a big clinky chunk of ice. Drink it however you enjoy it is, after all, the message-du-jour, and quite right too.

Whilst I’m not much of a cocktail connoisseur (a gigantic understatement in fact), even I’ve been tempted by recent offerings from the likes of Glasgow-based indie bottlers North Star Spirits, with their nattily labelled Campbeltown Soop releases, fusing coffee or chocolate liqueur with aged whisky from the Wee Toon; hello espresso martini (or so a cocktail-maven friend assures me). I, of course, tried it neat and enjoyed it muchly.

Which leads us nicely onto the subject of these creatively-minded indie bottlers. Often considered the avant-garde ‘artistes’ of the whisky world these days, offering innovative reIeases, it was fascinating to learn that indie bottling actually hails from a time before distilleries bottled their own wares, instead selling casks directly to grocers and merchants, to bottle themselves.

Many of the earliest of these companies are still celebrated today, including Scotland’s oldest indie bottler Wm Cadenheads Ltd, founded in 1842 in Aberdeen, and Gordon & MacPhail, established as a grocery business in Elgin in 1895. I hope you can tell I am still enjoying my self-directed whisky school, class of one, where whisky tasting plays a more central role in the curriculum than might be allowed at any other school.

So which indies are up for review today? Well, Edinburgh’s own Leith based Fragrant Drops for one. The brainchild of Rachel Dixon and her partner George Keeble, of Keeble Cask Co. It being a Glasgow theme for this piece, it might sound like a slightly odd choice, but bear with me.

One of the things I love about this indie bottler, besides the eye-catching pharmacy-style stopper bottles, is their phenomenal label art, which often depicts something memorable occurring on the day in which the original spirit was distilled. I have it on good authority that the bottle label for their dram which is up for review today, was the product of Rachel’s own fair hand. Very nice.

Another memorable recent example was their Linkwood 10-year-old release, distilled on 8th April 2013 (the date Margaret Thatcher died), featuring the legs of the (late) Wicked Witch of the East, sticking out from under Dorothy’s house.

Besides the broader Glasgow theme, the other thing uniting the very different bottlings up for review today is that unavoidable Glasgow icon, our very own Duke of Wellington statue, topped off with a traffic cone, an installation by the city’s arty hooligans which inspired none other than Banksy himself. You’ll spot him fronting the Gallery of Modern Art in Royal Exchange Square, and also featured on the labels for both today’s bottlings, a vivid representation of that wisecracking, irreverent Glasgow humour we know and love.

We also have indie blending maestros Compass Box representing, with their previously named Great King Street Glasgow Blend, now more simply dubbed the Glasgow Blend, and sporting its fabulous updated label design, with the traffic cone-topped Duke featured front-and-centre.

So without further to do, let’s see if I can detect any of that garrulous gallus charm in these two very different whiskies.

Review 1/2

Glasgow 5yo, Fragrant Drops Single Cask, fresh bourbon barrel #193, distilled 05.08.2018, bottled 15.05.2024, 232 bottles, 61.1% ABV
£70 (based on a comparison dram purchased)

First up it’s the Glasgow Distillery 5 year old from Fragrant Drops, matured in a fresh bourbon barrel. 61.1% ABV. Bottle priced at £70 retail, but to be up front and transparent, it was a single dram I purchased for my review for this one, at approx. £6.50. It’s also perhaps worth noting that I had the first dram out the bottle, so this is also a neck pour tasting.

Score: 6/10

**Good stuff.**
***TL;DR***
*With more than a dram of this I could be seduced into bumping the score higher*

Nose

This is waxy on the nose right off the starting blocks, more specifically I get honeyed beeswax candles but to me that waxiness also translates to ripe parmesan cheese, followed up by fresh apple juice straight from the carton, juicy pears, sherbet-ty lemon bonbons, and a tiny bit of green herbal mint-iness in there too on the nose; hard to detect, but it’s there.

Palate

To taste I get Tutti Frutti sweets, more of those apples, salted caramel, and Murray Mints. As I write these notes, I’m regretting not having a bottle to hand, for obvious reasons, it being a quality drop, but also so I can explore these tasting notes some more, and see how the liquid changes with a drop or two of water added – I suspect it will take water well though, at that ABV. The finish is medium-long and with warm butterscotch to round things off.

The Dregs

This is what Glaswegians would call a ‘belter’. It’s a waxy, apple fruity, butterscotch-tinged dram, with a smashing rich texture on the tongue. A great dram for that summertime taps aff! weather (chance would be a fine thing mind you, as I look out the window at another perma-drizzle of a day in the city). Happily, I think it will put a smile on yer face on a rainy day too. It’s a young whisky, but one that flies its flavour-filled colours with pride, and there’s an overall richness to it which I think belies its age, possibly thanks in large part to that splendid high ABV.

Score wise I’m giving this a solid 6 out of 10 Dramface rating, as it’s good stuff and yes, I would personally like to own a bottle. But I’d also like to give it some time to open up and develop, especially since my review is based on a neck pour, and also try it with some water. Nonetheless it’s one that I would happily recommend as a whisky which is well worth your time to try.

My initial instinct was to give it a 7, as I love what Fragrant Drops are doing, and I also love the liquid coming out of Glasgow Distillery. And it is rather good. But is it 7/10 good?

At £70, and with other excellent drams out there currently at that price or quite a bit less, and in a similar young age bracket - even Glasgow distillery’s own cask strength small batch and single cask offerings - I felt I needed to dock a point. But if we threw points tae the wind and got right down to it, I’d be using adjectives like banger and belter – and advising you to go grab yourselves a dram with which tae rinse yer tonsils oot!

Score: 6/10

Review 2/2

Compass Box Glasgow Blend, Blended Scotch Whisky, oloroso butts, American oak ex-bourbon and peated Islay malt included in the blend, 43% ABV
£35-50 and widely available

And now for the Compass Box Glasgow Blend. According to their website info, this blend is made up of whisky matured in Oloroso Sherry butts, as well as a peaty powerhouse of an Islay single malt. The bottle notes helpfully indicate the use of American Oak Hogsheads, Ex-Bourbon barrels too. Bottled at 43% ABV, this was purchased for £50 retail, but I’ve seen it significantly cheaper online.

Score: 5/10

**Average. In a good way.**
***TL;DR***
*A perfect summertime blend with a hit of smoke, but don’t overpay*

Nose

The nose is buttery, with a light but still detectable hint of peat in there, a touch of maltiness, vanilla, light citrus and tropical fruits, and some of that sherry cask influence coming through.

Palate

This has a surprisingly oily, buttery mouthfeel, and to taste I detect malt, savoury dark rye bread, sweet salty molasses, vanilla and honey. There’s that light smokiness coming through from the Islay malt, and black pepper and spice delivering some gentle warmth.

The Dregs

Some will possibly look askance at the selection of such random and entirely different drams for this piece. And hands up, I admit, it is slightly unfair to put these two together if it was a comparison piece. But it isn’t. So hopefully you will forgive this unusual pairing, and bear with me.

As discussed in my last article which covered the subject of cask strength and batch strength drams, and revealed my usual preference for the punchy flavours generally delivered by bottlings meeting those descriptions, I do enjoy a higher ABV. But sometimes what you want is something a bit easier going – a dram you can crack open , pour liberally, and share with friends who are maybe newer or even brand new to whisky, without concern of overwhelm. I’d put this pour in that bracket.

It's an easy sipper of a blend, a crowd pleaser with its quirky label, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. At £50 I felt slightly fleeced if I’m honest, but if I’d purchased at around the £35-40 mark - which it can be found for - I think I’d have been happier with my buy.

At that lower ABV of 43% it does feel quite lightweight, but benefits from slow sips and consideration of the carefully blended mix of flavours within. There’s some smokiness, some sherry character providing sweetness, and a balanced easy-going nature that won’t overwhelm.

Score wise I’m giving this a 5 out of 10. It’s good at what it does, but nothing groundbreaking, and it doesn’t grab me the way, say, their Orchard House blend does. But, when all’s said, if you’re looking for an accessible easy sipper, in a fun talking-piece styled bottle, then this could be a good buy for you, if the price is right.

Score: 5/10

For more on Glasgow’s iconic Duke of Wellington monument

Wikipedia
BBC World News

Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. PMc

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