Compass Box The Story of the Spaniard
Compass Box was founded in 2000 by American John Glaser and quickly made a name for themselves by bottling and marketing a range of blended scotch. While Compass Box found early notoriety for its conflicts with the Scotch Whisky Association but over the years they have gone from being outsiders to being respected innovators with numerous industry awards under their belts. The Story of the Spaniard is meant to be a showcase of sherry and the influence the fortified wine can have on scotch. Each of the several blends has some component of sherry maturation. The story behind the Story is a nod to Glaser’s first experience with sherry during travels in Spain.
Glendalough Grand Cru Burgundy
Glendalough was founded in 2011 by five friends and was one of the first craft distilleries in Ireland after the whiskey production on the island had dwindled to four major distilleries at the turn of the millennium. They make a variety of whiskies, gins, and poitín. The image on the bottle is St. Kevin, a seventh-century abbot who lived for several years in Glendalough. One of the distillery’s focus is on the wood, and all their whiskies are aged in an additional cask besides the usual ex-bourbon. The Glendalough Grand Cru Burgundy is a single grain whiskey aged for 3 years in ex-bourbon casks before spending another year in ex-Grand Cru Pinot Noir casks from Burgundy. 12 casks were produced, each yielding 366 bottles.
Ledaig 18 Year
The Ledaig brand comprises one half of Tobermory’s output, a heavily peated malt in the 30-40ppm range. The Tobermory distillery, in fact, was originally founded as the Ledaig distillery in 1798. The distillery has four wash stills and four spirit stills, with production capable of a million liters of spirit a year after an upgrade in 1990. The water for the whisky is taken from a small, private loch close to the Mishnish lochs. While the number of offerings in the brand is limited, they occasionally include limited options often featuring special cask finishes or unusual age statements. The Ledaig 18 is finished in ex-Sherry wood, though the official details don’t seem to note specifically what kind of sherry. Others seem to think well of this scotch, as it has won several awards at recent spirits competitions.