Whisky Discovery #291

Compass Box 'The Entertainer' (46% abv)

Blended Scotch Whisky

Circa £85.00 70ml (only available from Selfridges)

Check out the detail in this tasting sample label!

Once again we have been very lucky and have been sent a sample of this exclusive blended whisky to taste. The Entertainer is a unique and bespoke whisky, created exclusively for Selfridges by the award-winning whisky maker Compass Box

With only 1000 bottles produced, The Entertainer, is a unique collaboration and only available at Selfridges’ stores in London, Birmingham and Manchester and from their website for £84.99

So What Did We Think?

I put a dram of this in Kat's hand as she walked through the door the other evening and demanded her tasting notes immediately (she has been busy with her college work recently) I wrote them down while she nosed and tasted!

Kat said: On the nose I immediately thought of mothballs, which although sounds unfamiliar as a whisky tasting note was really quite pleasant. I thought it was quite musky, with notes of fresh cotton, wet green oak, a hint of lemon zest and a green vegetable note; kale or spring greens.

The initial taste is sweet and zesty and reminded me of Lemon bonbons, it has an oily quality with a little smoke, and spicy with fresh ginger. The smoky character and fresh ginger feature in the quite short finish too.

Dave Said: I on the other hand had time to sit down and relax with my dram, and was able to revisit the following evening and started tweeting my 'findings'. There was lots on the nose as you would expect from this blended Scotch. I thought it had a great nose; With a honey sweetness at first, after a short while the sweetness turns fruity with sultanas and figs. As the nose develops there are some nice malty cereal notes, and a gentle Islay peat reek. With more time the nose started to evolve with a floral fragrance, followed by some liquorice notes. Returning to nose this after the first taste I started getting some Demerara sugar, camphor and Sherbert lemons! Quite entertaining

On the palate it was sweet and spicy with, barley sugar and honey, zesty citrus, spices with fresh ginger, white pepper. The peppery finish gently fades with a little brine.

As with all Compass Box Whisky this is naturally coloured and bottled without chill filtration. The label and packaging is one of the most detailed I have seen from Compass Box, and is truly a work of art in itself, and this whisky does exactly what is says on the tin 'Quite Entertaining'.