Whisky Focus - Compass Box Double Single Limited Edition 10th Anniversary

Compass Box Double Single Cask Strength Limited Edition 10th Anniversary Bottling Malt & Grain Blended Scotch Whisky.

To celebrate their 10th anniversary Compass Box have brought back a small-batch whisky they first and last made in 2003. Double Single is a marriage of two single whiskies - one single malt and one single grain. The idea highlights the true virtue of blending grain whisky with malt whisky to create a truly elegant style.

The Art of Blending - What if you were to match perfectly one single malt whisky with one single grain whisky in just the right proportions?

That is, what if you were to make a blended Scotch whisky with only two components, only two single whiskies rather than many? What if you were to make… a "double single"?

This is the question Duncan Elphick and Tatsuya Minagawa of the Highlander Inn on Speyside asked of Compass Box in 2003, resulting in their first limited release bottling of The Double Single. For their 10th anniversary year, they’ve decided to bring it back.

The whiskies they’ve chosen this time is an 18 year old malt whisky distilled at Glen Elgin distillery (76%) and a 21 year old grain whisky distilled at Port Dundas (24%), both aged in American oak. The combination yields a full, soft palate of flavours reminiscent of pear fruit, maltiness, vanilla and crème brûlée.

This whisky is a testament to the virtues of combining grain whisky with malt whisky, a testament to the virtues of blended Scotch whisky. The grain whisky creates a lovely, soft, sweet pillow on which the malt whisky flavours luxuriate. This is just as great blended Scotch whisky should be.

The Double Single is a one-off, limited release of 876 bottles which was bottled in September 2010.

The whisky contains 18 year old single malt whisky from the Glen Elgin distillery (76% of the vatting) combined with a single cask of 21 year old grain whisky distilled at Port Dundas (24%). The Glen Elgin was aged in a refill American oak hogshead, the Port Dundas in a first-fill American oak hogshead.

Bottled at at cask strength 53.3% ABV. Not chill filtered and natural colour as you would expect from Compass Box.
 

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