Compass Box Last Vatted Malt

Despite brands like Ballantine’s, Johnnie Walker and Chivas Regal remaining the best-selling Scotch whisky brands in the world, the blended Scotch category played second fiddle to the more fashionable single malt market in the second half of the 20th century. This remains largely true today, however in recent decades the perception of the blend has improved. The company at the forefront of this is Compass Box, founded in 2000 by John Glaser, a former marketing director for the Johnnie Walker brand. Their core range consists of The Spice Tree, The Peat Monster, Story of the Spaniard, Oak Cross and Hedonism blends, and they regularly produce limited editions as well. The company prides itself on its boundary-pushing approach to its creations, and on occasion, boundary-crossing creations, such as the original Spice Tree in 2005 which was banned by the Scotch Whisky Association for its use of suspended staves in casks. Despite investment from Bacardi in 2015, the company continues to push the envelope and rebel against tradition, most notably in its Scotch Whisky Transparency campaign, launched in 2016 following another disagreement with the SWA, this time about their detailed revealing of the recipes of their whiskies.

On the final day before new Scotch Whisky Regulations were enacted on 22nd November 2011, Compass Box released both this Last Vatted Malt and the Last Vatted Grain. From that day forward the word "Vatted" was no longer legitimate and has been replaced with "Blended". Now, Blended Malts and Blended Grains are the only acceptable nomenclature.

Transparency:

• 22% Aberlour 1974, first-fill sherry butt
• 78% Caol Ila 1984, American oak hogsheads

One of 1,323 bottles.