It's here, the Compass Box Whisky Hedonism 2026 Limited Annual Release, starring Karen Gillan as The Muse. I picked these up last night at Julio's Liquors.
This year's label is by Australian artist Emma Hack, and utilizes body painting, collage, and photography.
Psst, Compass Box, I need a lithograph of this one to go with the previous two designs. We already know where we'll hang it. 😁
Saturday night was a very special night, for several reasons. As some of you know, this past year was a tough one as my father was diagnosed early on with terminal lung cancer, and subsequently suffered a few health crises which had him in the ICU a couple of times. For most of the past year, Jess & my lives were occupied with helping him, and visiting him regularly in New York. We were happy to do it, but it did mean a pause in our usual get togethers with friends, which we missed.
On December 10th, 2025, my father succumbed to his cancer. As you might expect, the subsequent weeks have been full of grief, and paperwork. Even death has bureaucracy.
December 10th was also the day that the Compass Box Whisky Confluence auction at Bonhams Skinner, to benefit The Wolfsonian-FIU, ended. I'd been watching the auction, but uncertain about bidding - despite being a longtime Compass Box fanatic. However, after my father passed early that morning, I decided that I needed something good to go with the day - and that was going to be winning Confluence, which I did. You only live once, as was painfully clear that day.
My birthday is at the end of December, and we had planned a small gathering with friends to celebrate - but Jess & I both came home from my father's services in NY under the weather, and not really in a celebratory mood, so we cancelled that.
Instead, yesterday we had a gathering which was partly a delayed birthday celebration, partly a toast to my father's memory, and partly an exploration of a truly unique whisky. But, more than anything, it was a gathering of good friends for the first time in quite a while - and boy did I need that more than I realized.
Thank you Jess, Jer, Shamala, Marc, Lizzy, Lisa, Carol, Friski and Betsy for making the evening wonderful.
Before we could dive into the whisky, we had to put something in on stomachs - so we had an assortment of my father's favorites, in his honor. There was an antipasto salad, some veggies and cheese, meatballs and sauce (for subs or over pasta), pickle soup (the Cafe Polonia recipe), kielbasa and sauerkraut, pierogi, a texas sheet cake, rice pudding, cupcakes, and some fine Läderach chocolates.
Properly fueled, we attacked the mission of the evening.
We'd assembled a lineup of whiskies for the evening - of course, there was the Confluence, but we also pulled some expressions from the component distilleries. Obviously, these were not *the* components used to make Confluence, but it was just a fun way to try a few things.
We'd lined up Mackmyra, a Gordon & MacPhail Miltonduff, a G&M Macallan, a Highland Park 25, a Flora & Fauna Teaninich, and a Glen Moray (which was peated, it was what we had). We also had a couple of whiskies from Nashoba Valley Distillery, right here in town - Papa's Bourbon and the Stimulus Twenty 20 year old American Single Malt. Thanks to Marc Follit, our good friend, neighbor, and distiller at Nashoba, for bringing those.
Oh, yes, and there is also the Black Tot Rum Last Consignment. It seemed like another special bottle to open - after the whiskies.
We started off with the Confluence, so that we'd have clear palates - the better to taste it with. Whisky reviewer extraordinaire, Friski Whiski, agreed to write up a joint review with input from the whole crew, and we spent quite a bit of time on that. A most enjoyable time it was, too. We avoided reading the official tasting notes before creating our own, and were pleased to see that our notes ended up aligning fairly well with the official ones once we were done.
Friski posted the review on his page (https://www.facebook.com/friski.whiski/posts/pfbid0cQjrjpvFAm7XzAwf54Y62YPcTHMwcriwn5aF1b4JifQrV9XumhkTR5NYcwrT18tMl), but here it is:
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Dram of a lifetime on 1/10/26
Compass Box
Confluence
Blended Malt Whisky
Age: NAS
Abv: 48.9%
No. of bottles: 1
Components:
The Mackmyra Distillery
Swedish Single Malt
Cherry Wine Fresh Seasoned American Oak
9%
The Mackmyra Distillery
Swedish Single Malt
Oloroso First Fill Sherry Seasoned American Oak
9%
The Mackmyra Distillery
Swedish Single Malt
American First Fill & Virgin Oak Casks
9%
The Mackmyra Distillery
Swedish Single Malt
Swedish Virgin Oak & First Fill Casks
3%
Teaninich Distillery
Scottish Single Malt
First Fill Sherry Butt
12%
Miltonduff Distillery
Scottish Single Malt
First Fill Bourbon Barrel
12%
Highland Park Distillery
Scottish Single Malt
Recharred Hogshead
3%
The Macallan Distillery
Scottish Single Malt
First Fill Bourbon Barrel
14%
Glen Moray Distillery
Scottish Single Malt
First Fill Bourbon Barrel
15%
Glen Moray Distillery
Scottish Single Malt
First Fill Bourbon Barrel
15%
Availability: 1 of 1 bottle. Bonhams auction house event "Art & Alchemy of Spirits: Presenting Compass Box to Benefit the Wolfsonian".
Crowd source notes: MegaZone, Jess Terry, Jer Johnson, Shamala Rao, Marc Follit, Lizzy Nicolai, Lisa Mulvehill, Carol Ann, Betsey Hendricks, and Friski Whiski.
Color: Medium honey and golden syrup
Neat (without water)
Nose: Soft and crisp. Honey, green apple, marzipan, cooked caramelized pineapple, confectioner’s sugar, lemon citrus, orange peel, with hints of cardamom and anise.
Texture: Warm. Creamy, buttery, slightly drying through the finish and pleasantly astringent.
Palate: Apple blossom honey, honey comb, marzipan, caramel, and birchwood. Swedish Kanelbulle (which is a classic Scandinavian cinnamon bun, spiced with cardamom in the dough, less gooey and use a lighter cinnamon application).
Finish: A roller coaster ride of white pepper, fresh green olive oil, saline, toasted almonds, fine Corinthian leather, oak, grapefruit pith, and oleo saccharum.
Unleash the serpent (with water)
Nose: An orchard house of fruit moved to the forefront. Pear, apple frangipane, sliced almonds, sweet cracked malt and fresh cream. Birchbeer float with vanilla bean ice cream. Lakrits, lemon blossoms where floral and citrus combine into a confluence of marriage.
Texture: Creamy, buttery, woody without the tannic astringency.
Palate: Baked apple dumplings, roasted butternut squash, demerara sugar, sweet cream, and candied meyer lemon.
Finish: Earthy notes get amplified. Warm spiced sweet potato pie with a pastry crust, sea spray, salted caramel, walnut skins, and toffee with subtle hints of a gentle smoke.
Tasting notes glass used: Open Up Chef and Sommelier 5.5oz glass.
The morning after glass: Sweet cracked malt, dust, vanilla, and caramel
Pairings...
Season: Any
Music: Lovefool by The Cardigans
Food: Rosemary pork loin with homemade applesauce
Media: Best enjoyed with great company and good conversation.
Overall: From first nose to final sip, several of us ended up in a journey from an apple orchard to our grandmother's seaside cottage while various desserts were being cooked. Fantastic debut from Angela D'Orazio at Compass Box! We really look forward to her future creations.
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As you can see, we loved it. This is a fantastic whisky, IMHO, and I'm thrilled that we were able to try it. Whisky is for sharing, not for staring. It would have been a crying shame for this to sit on someone's shelf, never to be tasted. You can tell we enjoyed it - we went through about 1/3 of the bottle compiling those tasting notes. ;-)
Afterwards we did taste through the other whiskies - which were good, but kind of paled a bit after Confluence. The Mackmyra was well-loved as well, and you can see the influence in Confluence. The other standout for the group was the Flora & Fauna Teaninich - really good. Enough so that we're going to be looking for more Teaninich at auctions to try in the future.
Really, everything was good - and, more importantly, we had a lot of laughs and great conversation trying them.
After we ran the line of whisky, we did open the Last Consignment - and I figured out why it comes with two extra corks! The cork in the bottle is fully seated and covered in wax - so you have to pull it like a wine bottle, and it isn't really designed to go back in. So you use one of the supplied corks to reseal the bottle. Mystery solved!
It is a very rich, unctuous rum that those who tried enjoyed. It is also liquid history, and it was special just to be trying it. The previous evening I'd also read through the little booklet that is included, going through the history of the rum and rituals in the Royal Navy, and that was quite interesting.
The molasses note is front and center, but there are tropical fruits, spices, chocolate, leather, a bit of funk (there has to be some Jamaican rum in there)... a really thought-provoking sip.
As the evening ran down, and some of the crew left for home, we decided to keep the evening going with a few additional drams. So I grabbed some Glenmorangie. We hit Year of the Snake first - I'd opened this, but some of the others had not had a chance. This is still a standout dram - a blend of ex-Bourbon and Amontillado finishing casks.
They we opened the Rare Cask 21 year Mizunara finish. As expected, this is a very fine whisky, but the Snake was still in the lead by consensus.
And we last turned to the new 25 year, The Altus. This is mostly aged in designer bourbon casks, but is seasoned with a little whisky finished in Malmsey Madeira casks. A very juicy, fruit-forward dram, this ended up coming in second place, bumping the Mizunara to 3rd. Still, they're all fantastic.
That pretty much wrapped up the night. It was an amazing time start to finish - fantastic drams, but even better friends.
Next Saturday we're doing a larger gathering - this time for Raising Glasses rums. Should be fun!
#Whiskey #Whiskey #Rum #CompassBox #BlackTot #Mackmyra #Miltonduff #Teaninich #Macallan #HighlandPark #GlenMoray #NashobaValleyWinery #Glenmorangie #Scotch #Bourbon
Amazing night Saturday opening the Compass Box Whisky Confluence with friends!
Whisky is for sharing, not for staring!
That was quite an enjoyable evening...
Thank you Angela D'Orazio for a stunning Compass Box debut, looking forward to the future.
More details after some rest. 😁
The Compass Box Whisky Confluence auction lot came with a few surprises. Aside from the bottle and display stand, it included another 50ml sample bottle, 16 informational cards, and six complete label sets - front and back, all signed by Angela D'Orazio
I expect the sample is so that someone could try the whisky without opening the full bottle, to keep it as a display bottle, investment, etc. That's a nice thought, but, IMHO, the purpose of a whisky is to be shared and enjoyed, so I intend to open the bottle with some friends soon, and will surely share with other friends in the future.
I'm resisting trying it right away so we can try it together for the first time. That's more fun. I'll be sure to share our thoughts when we do, which should be in a couple of weeks if plans hold.
Compass Box Whisky Confluence, a very special Blended Malt Whisky created by Angela D'Orazio
This will not be sitting on the shelf looking pretty, it will be opened and shared with friends - very soon.
A friend of mine brought me these from a Whiskey tasting. I'll start with a one tonight 😋
#whisky #whiskey #tasting #alcohol #Ardberg #Mackmyra #CompassBox
Sonntag ist Tastingtag und heute wird es Dekadent:
Ich hatte den ART & DECADENCE von Compass Box im Glas. Ein Blend frei nach dem Motto: „Mehr ist Mehr“!
Und warum das so ist und was der alles kann erfahrt ihr in diesem Video.
These two Compass Box beauties arrived today all the way from France, by way of Austria, thanks to the Whisky Friends Network.
The Whisky Friends Network, enabling obsession worldwide.
Jess & I finally hung these Compass Box lithographs, and created a little bottle & coaster shrine to complement them.
More photos from the CB blending room
While my entire visit to Compass Box Whisky was extremely enjoyable, and I encourage others to visit if you get a chance, as a whisky geek the highlight of the visit was getting to spend some time in the actual blending room with whiskymaker Samuel Travers.
He was very kind to spend some time chatting, and offered me a chance to try a few special components. He was working on an upcoming release at the time, which we chatted about, and I got to sample some of the components under consideration.
The blending room is packed with so many treasures. It was truly a privilege to spend some time in there, talking whisky.
If you meet Sam at an event, ask him about the bees. 😉
I put together a photo album from my visit: https://photos.app.goo.gl/q5Zg1uuqEpxHNyXq7
In the whisky world, we talk about rare bottles as unicorns. Bottles so rare and/or so expensive that, for most, they are almost mythical. But what's even rarer than a unicorn? A pegasus?
Whatever it is, I spotted three of them on display at Compass Box Whisky.
In all my years of collecting and hunting for Compass Box, I'd never even heard of these. I was told that they were private bottlings, and unlikely to ever be obtainable today.
Fetishism was bottled February 27 & 28, 2009. I don't know how many were made, but the one on display is number 173.
Meadows Bee Farm Blend was bottled in June 2014. It was made for one of their early US distributors.
J+J No:1 was bottled in July 2018 - and there are only five bottles. This is perhaps the rarest Compass Box bottling. My understanding is that one of the Js is John Glaser, and the other was one of the initial backers of CB. But I might be misremembering.
While I was a Compass Box Whisky, I was able to at least try one of the unicorns on my list - Scot-Free.
This was a recent special bottling, celebrating English whisky. A blend from six English distilleries, the 61 bottles made were given away free by a lottery in the UK.
I've seen three of those bottles come to auction so far - selling for the obscene, insane bids of £3000, £3700, and £5600! I'd love to have one of these some day, but not at those prices. It is totally not in the spirit with which they were distributed either.
Last month I was able to drop by the Compass Box Whisky Blending Room in London - well, Richmond. They have a bit of a company museum set up in a sitting area when you enter the office, as well as a small company shop with their recent offerings for purchase.
I have most of these in my collection now, but I still have a short list of unicorns I'm hunting:
Scot-Free
Mariage Eleuthera
Mariage Asyla
The Monster
Magic Cask (2006 white & yellow label - not the 2020 colorful label)
Big Block
Juveniles 20th Anniversary
Peat Monster 10th Anniversary Park Avenue Edition
Kensington Wine Market 25th Anniversary
Canto Cask 48 & 125
Of those, I will probably never obtain Big Block. There were only 25 bottles of that made, all for the winner of a charity auction.
Still, it was nice to see all of these bottles on display.
I didn't come home empty-handed from last night's event at Julio's Liquors. I was fortunate to come home with a bottle of the new Compass Box Whisky Limited Edition, Brûlée Royale. Samuel Travers, the lead whiskymaker for this release, led the event last night.
A couple of other bottles I'd reserved had also arrived in the past week. The new Glenmorangie Limited Edition, A Tale of Spices. This is the latest in the ongoing 'A Tale of' series.
And, lastly, Maker's Mark Cellar Aged 2025 Release. I have the previous releases (2023 & 2024) already, and I've been hearing good things about this one. It came with an informational booklet, which I don't recall the previous releases having.
#Whiskey #Whisky #Scotch #Bourbon #CompassBox #Glenmorangie #MakersMark
The Queen is dead! Long live the Queen!
At last night's Compass Box Whisky event at Julio's Liquors, we finished off my bottle 338 (of 690) of the inaugural Hedonism bottling. A once in a lifetime taste for most of the folks there, most likely.
Now on to bottle 642!
If you have one of these and you haven't tried it, you're missing out. That's what it is all about.
