Years later, Compass Box started offering exclusive retailer single casks of the blend at 49%abv. (Due to some sort of rebranding the Great King Street and 's were removed, making it "Artist Blend".) The prices tended to be pretty reasonable at $50-$60, so I picked up a bottle from Binny's last year.
This particular cask was an ex-Palo Cortado butt that had previously held Linkwood's single malt:
Though that cask sounds sort of random, there's actual method to it. One of the Doctors Springbank did some digging around, finding out that Linkwood Palo casks were part of Compass Box's Nectarosity blend. It had been a first-fill for Nectarosity, so CB found additional uses for it.
Linkwood is good stuff, and I do like me some Palo Cortado matured whisky, so the $50 sale price made it a given for me.
Unfortunately, I never really "got" the whisky. By the bottle's midpoint, I realized I appreciated it but didn't actually like it. With the looming possibility that I was missing something, I retained the services of both Doctors Springbank, requesting their tasting notes for this bottle. So first, I present ye with their review.
From the Doctors Springbank
Nose: Waxy, overnight oats with honey and orange marmalade. Pear and ginger. Pineapple upside down cake with orange zest
Palate: Fresh milled barley, hay, walnuts, orange peel, Honey, apricot, white pepper.
Finish: Long lingering dry wood tannins
After sitting in the glass for 40 minutes
Nose: Vanilla tootsie roll, lemon poppyseed pancakes, hay
Palate: Muscovado sugar, poached pear, unripe banana, lemon zest, white pepper,
Finish: Long dry bittersweet chocolate, walnuts.
Notes: Overall decent dram. It had overwhelmingly bourbon barrel characteristics. We had trouble finding the palo cortado influence.
Thank you both for your notes!
I did two separate tasting sessions. First, I compared it's highball side-by-side with that of Johnnie Walker Double Black and Hibiki Japanese Harmony. TIRDs aplenty! Then, on a different night, I consumed plenty of Artist Blend neatly. Here's what I found:
HIGHBALL
Lots of baking spice and caramel right up front. Butterscotch appears in later sips. Mostly vanilla at the bottom of the glass.
This follows the bourbon barrel reference from the Doctors. For what it's worth, I like this highball the least of the three.
NEAT
The nose starts with a curious mix of oranges, nectarines, steel wool, and almond extract. Some cherry bubblegum appears around the edges, with vanilla bean in the background. It gets more floral with time, picking up lemon cake notes. More oranges in the palate, now joined by Granny Smith apples and whole wheat bread. It's tart and acidic at first, then gets much sweeter with time, gaining ginger beer and rose notes. Its decent-length finish offers mostly tart and tangy citrus, dusty spices, vanilla, and ginger candy, also growing sweeter with time.
WORDS WORDS WORDS
I'm relieved to see we found similar notes, like oranges and lemon (pan)cakes on the nose; oranges, grain, and sugar in the palate; and woody stuff in the finish. I also can't find the Palo Cortado cask in this, just lots of bourbon barrel action and sweet grain whisky. Could this have been a third-fill, with Nectarosity being #1, the Linkwood Artist Blend element as #2, and the marrying cask as #3? Or did that first blend soak up all the good stuff?
The now-archived Artist Blend was only 45% 11yo first-fill bourbon barrel Cameronbridge grain whisky, yet that ingredient shouts the loudest, with young Linkwood and young Balmenach offering secondary notes.
Having now focused on the whisky in a tasting, I do like it more that I had before. Still, I'm in no hurry to pour another glass of this. When I do, it'll be served neat or with a few drops of water.
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