Why I Love This Stuff

I love whisky because of the aromas. Because of the flavours. Because it's a natural product. Because whisky making is a time-honoured craft. Because of the way it makes you feel when you drink it. Because the stuff is always changing, and no one can ever know everything there is to know about whisky.

I love it because drinking whisky with friends is one of life's great pleasures.

When people ask me what I love about the whisky business, there is always one image I describe. It's the image, and the aromas that go with it, of a whisky warehouse. Have you ever been in a whisky warehouse? I love being inside them. These are the places where casks and casks of whisky lay maturing. Whisky warehouses have this heady, great aroma. I just love it: you smell the wood from the casks and all sorts of fruity compounds evaporating off the whisky into the air; it all sort of rolls into you like a cloud as you enter the warehouse. I guess it's more a "bouquet" than simply an aroma, because it's so complex, comprised of so many different, complementary aromas. Whatever, I love it.

My Five Core Whisky Beliefs

1. Flavours through Blending. I believe in blending as a creative means to an end to achieve an endless variety of delicious flavours in whisky. 2. Great Grain Whiskies. (I love malt whisky, but ...) I believe that great grain whiskies from good wood are the undiscovered treasures of Scotland's whisky kingdom. 3. Retaining the Natural Character of Whisky in the Wood. I believe in minimal handling of whisky from cask to bottle. I do not chill filter my whiskies, nor colour them, and I filter them as gently as possible. I do these things to preserve the flavours, complexity and mouthfeel of whiskies from the wood, which is something few people get the opportunity to experience. 4. Quality via Small Batches. I believe in creating small batches of whiskies so I can control quality and flavour, rigorously nosing and tasting every cask. I believe in batch identification of my whiskies because no two casks are identical, thus no two batches of blended whisky are ever truly identical. 5. Drinking Freedom. I believe in drinking any whisky any way you want. Toss out the protocol, it gets in the way of pleasure.

Drinking: Theory & Practice

A. Why do so many people uninitiated to whisky feel intimidated by the "proper way" to drink it? It's one of the things that makes Scotch whisky unappealing to lots of people.

B. Let's get over it. Whisky is a drink. It's about pleasure as well as appreciation. There is no fine line between whiskies designed only for pleasure and whiskies designed only for appreciation. I say drink your whisky any way you wish. And please, don't try to get new people into whisky by giving them a glass of neat whisky. Let's face it, 40% spirit hurts the tongue! People accustomed to drinking just beer and wine don't ever encounter pain when they drink their drinks because the alcohol levels of those drinks are below the pain threshold of the tongue. So offer whisky to these people cut with water. I recommend about half and half, whisky to water, to start them out. Good whiskies will maintain their core flavour characteristics at this strength, and it doesn't hurt your mouth!

Age Statements (Misleading Thing)

You won't find any age statements on my whiskies.

Why?

Because, quite simply, age statements are misleading. I have travelled all over the world in my whisky work, and it is the same everywhere: most people use age statements as an indication of the quality of the whisky and the price they should pay. It just doesn't work that way.

Why?

Because age statements refer to the youngest whisky in the bottle; so if you have a whisky with some 18 year-old whisky in it and some 8 year-old whisky in it, it has to be labeled an 8 year-old whisky. How useful is that? Because whisky does not always get better with age. In general it does, but after a certain point you reach diminishing returns. This point can differ by cask, not just by distillery. Because different whiskies mature at different rates depending on the nature of the whisky's character, type and quality of wood cask, and the geographic location of the warehouse. Because some whiskies are great at ages people consider "young" (ever had one of the old bottlings of Talisker 8 year-old?). Because the quality and type of casks used by distilleries varies across their stocks; i.e., one cask at age X could be great, another cask with whisky of the same age from the same warehouse could be mediocre

I contend that it is not the age on the bottle that means anything, it is the quality and flavour of the liquid inside, and whether or not it appeals to you.

Chill Filtering (Bad Thing)

I won't chill filter my whiskies. Chill filtering is a cosmetic step taken to keep whiskies from clouding when they get cold. The problem is it strips flavour and texture from the whisky. Whisky drinking is about flavour. So why chill filter? Cloudy whisky is a good sign that the whisky maker wants you to taste everything the whisky has to offer.

Colouring (Unnecessary Thing)

The colour of the whisky you see in a bottle of Compass Box is the natural colour of the whiskies from the casks. Most whiskies these days are coloured with spirit caramel to maintain consistent colour from one bottling to the next and, sometimes, to make them look old. Used properly, it doesn't affect flavour. But whisky is a natural product. So why mess with it?

Corks (No More Corked Whisky!)

Yes, whiskies can be corked! Just like wines. The cork industry has struggled for decades with the problem. But until they can solve it I, like more and more wine makers today, opt for synthetic corks. They perform the same function as cork corks, but don't run any risk of affecting the flavour of the liquid they protect. Plus, they come in cool colours. And they have lots of other uses: the corks I use make great pencil erasures, really! Ask me for one when you see me; I carry them around and hand them out to people!

To find out more about Compass Box whisky visit www.compassboxwhisky.com