Compass Box Canvas
2021 Release | 46% ABV
A delicate hint of vino naranja barrel uniqueness
Compass Box is a renowned blender who continually releases delicious core-range releases, such as the Orchard House and unique and industry challenging special releases. I’ve consumed the newer versions of Spice Tree using their SWA rule-abiding casks, and found it exactly as described: rich, round, and intense (aka spicy). The Orchard House is a budget friendly smash hit, exactly as described again: fragrant, sweet, and balanced. So when an ex-bourbon heavy blend, one of my favourite whisky styles, was released by Compass Box and comprised mostly of my ride-or-die Tomatin, I had to give it a go and see if it lived up to the bright, bold, and delicious descriptors.
In addition to the ex-bourbon and Tomatin connection, a portion of the whisky was aged for three years in vino naranja barrels. Not knowing what these barrels were and before pulling the trigger, I opened Google and did some poking around. And poke and poke I did for a while as there is limited information on this unique fortified wine that originated in Huelva, Spain. Vino naranja should not be confused with other orange wines, colloquially-described based on their colour from macerating white wine with the grape skin and seeds intact, producing a wine of deep orange or amber colour. Spanish orange wine, or vino naranja, is a controlled beverage and comes with a denomination of origin (D.O.) and is made using oranges. Orange skins are sun-dried before being mixed and macerated with a sweet white wine. The sweet wine can be made from a variety of white grapes, including the high-sugar content and whisky-renowned Pedro Ximenez grape or others. The similarities with sherry continue as vino naranja is aged and rotated through a solera system. This unique wine and barrel had me intrigued. I fancy citrus notes in my whisky and perhaps this unique cask would amp up these particular attributes.
If the internet is to be believed, Compass Box indicates the approximate age of each component in circle ring charts, much like how tree rings indicate age. Apparently some snooty law or some other bureaucratic nonsense prevents good folks such as Compass Box from directly stating the age of each component like everyone, whiskyphile or not, would like to know. It does limit us from directly understanding the minimum, average, and maximum age of blends, preventing consumers from determining their own age-vs-price scale. It’s truly unfortunate that some relatively minor but still important details such as age cannot be published, all for some bureaucratic nonsense.
Let’s see if the Compass Box Canvas is bright, bold, and delicious shall we?
Review
Compass Box Canvas, 2021 Release, 5,880 Bottles, 46% ABV
£100 / CAD$155 and available
Looking at the fact sheet from Compass Box’s website and counting tree rings, we arrive at the below breakdown of the components within Canvas:
13 yo Tomatin: 43.4% from a refill bourbon barrel
14 yo Glenburgie: 24.2% from a first-fill bourbon barrel
18 yo Glen Elgin: 15.4% from a re-charred American oak hogshead
13 yo Tomatin: 10.9% finished in a vino naranja barrel for three years
24 yo Imperial: 6.1% from a first-fill bourbon barrel
Some quick arithmetic later, this whisky has a weighted average age of about 15 years (if the tree ring thing is to be believed that is).
Nose
Orange zest, light honey and pears and peaches in syrup. Golden raisins, white chocolate and crème brûlée filling.
Palate
Lightly waxy and creamy with some indistinct citrus notes. There’s a hint of orange marmalade, white chocolate and he perfect amount (for me) of warming cinnamon spiciness. There’s a lingering finish of honey and orange zest.
The Dregs
So is it bright, bold, and delicious? Ya, it kinda is. The heavy use of ex-bourbon and refill American oak casks lets the distillates sing through to the forefront, answering the bright descriptor. Is it bold? No, not to my definition of a bold whisky for it wasn’t large, distinctive, and made me sit back in my chair on the first sip like I would expect. Was it delicious? For me it’s fruity, zesty, slightly spicy and creamy, fitting into one of my preferred whisky categories. The orange notes are definitely evident and not an artefact of persuasion based on my knowledge of the casking, confirmed through my own blind tasting and friends I have dallied this out to in the past.
The nose is more complex than the palate. I don’t mind the barrel spice notes I so often find in Compass Box releases. Just as distilleries can have their own unique profile, I sometimes find that independent bottlers and blenders can also have a profile based on their maturation programs. I have friends who don’t like the spiciness that’s common in Compass Box yet there are others who don’t mind the extra zip, almost like fresh cracked black pepper on your hot meal, just putting the extra bit of flair on your scrumptious meal. Given the age of the components and casks, it’s far spicier than I would have imagined. Just when you think you are getting a handle on this glorious liquid called whisky, it turns things a little sideways on you.
Are the flavours and experience worth double or triple that of other competitors within the space? Is it worth two bottles of Spey Tenne, or almost double an equally old official bottling of Tomatin or another 15 yo whisky? A bunch of nopes from my perspective. Is my trust in Compass Box special releases slightly shaken by the price-vs-experience metric? To be honest, yes it is. This was my first Compass Box special release and I didn’t think it was that special. Perhaps my palate is just too brutish to detect any of the little things that may or may not be lurking in the corners of this whisky.
It may also be that I end up drinking whisky in the nighttime compared to some blenders preferring to describe a whisky at mid-morning at the supposed peak palate sensitivity time of day. Perhaps my dram-time doesn’t allow me to fully appreciate the same aspects to a whisky but in fairness the vast majority of consumers would also be dramming after a full day of work, family, and stress and may not be detecting the nuances. Both in my professional and whisky lives, I don’t trust a single data point, thus I’m not blacklisting Compass Box special releases from future purchases. I’ve recently acquired the discontinued and well reputed No Name No.2 and No.3 at RRP and will be cracking those soon so perhaps my trust in Compass Box will be renewed.
Is it worth the price to try a whisky partially aged in a unique barrel in the pursuit of different flavours and experiences? That’s up to you to decide.
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. BB
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