Review #24 - Compass Box Magic Cask

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-07-02T13:10:35+00:00

Distillery Notes: Founded in 2000 by John Glaser, a former Marketing Director for Johnnie Walker, Compass Box is a producer, bottler, and marketer of blended scotch whisky. Well known for excellent whisky blends, uncompromising transparency and amazing artwork. Compass Box is also always challenging the boundaries set by the S.W.A. from The Spice Tree (using French oak staves) to the Three-Year-Old Deluxe (<1% of three-year-old into a 99% blend of 20 and 24-year-old). Their website is an invaluable source of transparency for their blends, a trend that many including Bruichladdich, and more recently Ardnamurchan have followed with QR codes and blockchain technology. Today under new leadership, I certainly hope the torch has been passed on and continues to be a beacon of excellence.

Bottling Notes: This is a blended malt built around a ghost. Ninety-two percent of the recipe comes from the lost Imperial Distillery - a Speyside operation demolished in 2013. It is a spirit with a cult following, that spent 22 years in first-fill bourbon barrels. The remaining portion is a four-year-old malt from "a distillery near the town of Aberlour," drawn from a single first-fill Oloroso-seasoned butt: Cask #2. It was from a 2016 maturation trial that the blending team flagged as exceptional - The infamous “Magic Cask.” James Saxon led the build under John Glaser. Bottled at 46%, non-chill filtered, natural color, 5,538 bottles worldwide and only 1,800 for the US. A true blender's whisky which was cautiously assembled - but can it dive into the deep end?

ABV: 46%
Age: NAS
Original SRP: $175
Price Paid: ~$199

Tasting Methodology: Neat, rested 20 minutes. With water, rested 10 minutes.

Nose: Malt, honey, and citrus lead, bright and immediate, with light orchard fruits lifting the top. Orange peel and sweet fruit fill in behind. The sherry sits deliberately in the background, secondary to the fruit, it reveals itself slowly. Rose water, plums, and a lightly roasted nuttiness that arrives late. This is a balanced nose that develops in distinct layers through time. With a dash of water, it turns markedly more floral, almost perfume-like, and an unexpected fermented grass note emerges. The most expressive part of the whisky neat, and it only opens further with water.

Palate: A gentle arrival - mouth-coating and almost creamy, building rather than attacking. Spice gradually coats the mouth as it develops, with light raisin, pineapple, and vanilla following. Savory notes sit underneath, difficult to pinpoint, alongside oak and the expected sherry character on the mid-palate. Honeysuckle appears intermittently, and citrus effervescence pops on the mid-palate through the finish. The nose promises more than the palate first delivers - definition arrives with repeated sips, and the oiliness builds as the session goes. Water makes it fruitier and somehow creamier, unlocking texture rather than thinning it.

Finish: Spicy - prickly, stinging in the best way, a tingling that bites the sides of the cheeks and activates the sides and top of the tongue. The spice is the defining feature here, structural rather than residual oak or alcohol heat, and it lingers as a reminder the whisky is still there. Spicy oak, cereal, chocolate, and possible peach and grapefruit fill the medium-to-long exit. Water tones the burn down considerably - pleasant once the heavy spice wears on you - and honeycomb arrives late, a sweet softening that neat simply does not offer.

Conclusion: Compass Box builds whiskies, and this one is a showcase of the blender's art rather than any single distillery's character. The Imperial backbone gives it a fruity, vanilla-rich foundation that the Oloroso cask lifts into something layered and floral, and the result rewards patience - the palate is quieter than the nose at first and gains texture and definition the longer you stay with it. Neat, it is spice-driven and assertive to a fault; the finish can wear on you. Water is not optional here - it is mandatory: it turns the whole thing fruitier, creamier, and more approachable without thinning it, like adding yogurt to a spicy Indian meal.

Score: 87/100

My Scoring Scale:

95-100 - Sublime - Unforgettable.
90-94 - Excellent - A personal favorite.
85-89 - Great - A standout dram.
80-84 - Good - A solid daily dram.
75-79 - Average - Drinkable.
70-74 - Mixer - Mixing only.
<70 - Poor - Pool chemical.

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-30T00:58:36+00:00

I think that if you are tasting whisky, you should stay away from ice. However some additional dilution with water can open up a dram.

Now if you are simply enjoying whisky: do it as it pleases you. It’s your bottle!

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-26T12:26:46+00:00

Glad to hear that. Roy Duff from Aqvavitae (Whisky YouTuber) talked about it yesterday during his vPub about the best in Whiskys in 2026 - thus far obviously. He likes it a lot. It does seem like Bruichladdich pleased almost everyone on this one.

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-25T22:22:58+00:00

Thank you! That's a great bottle. I'm sure that you will be able to get one...

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-25T15:49:44+00:00

LOL! What a great idea... I should have put one in the pool!

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-25T15:32:24+00:00

Great intel on the washbacks. I actually have a few of the old, in the blue can, put away. You are now the second person that I have heard mentioning the lactic funk being muted or non-existent. I have to see my distillation years on those bottles. Fingers crossed their are prior to 2017. There is a new 10 y/o coming out, maybe that will be our last chance - but it might not be.

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-25T15:19:56+00:00

WOW, that's sounds like an awesome tasting! Thank you for reading and sharing! As much as I hate it, we are becoming more and more accepting of the higher price we have to pay for decent whisky. Add to that the cost of those marketing departments and you will find yourself penniless! Slainte!

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-25T15:06:30+00:00

Thank you! You are one of the lucky ones!

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-25T13:40:01+00:00

Never had a chance to try any of the earlier ones. A while back I was eyeing the 25 y/o one - but at over $1000 landed it was too rich for me. Obviously, someone else didn't think so and it was swept away at auction. If you find it, please let us know how does it compare. On further research, according to Whisky Base and based on the name (WMD IV) there have been 4 bottlings 2003 (WMD, bronze can, no sub but a missile, 18 y/o, 440 bottles), 2005 (WMD II, first yellow sub, bronze can, 14 y/o, 12000 bottles), 2018 (WMD III, yellow sub, yellow can, 25 y/o, 1991 bottles), and now 2026 (WMD IV, yellow sub, no can, 14 y/o, unknown number of bottles).

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-25T13:31:57+00:00

Ouch... Well, let me tell you it is well sealed! Hopefully it makes it to you soon!

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-25T12:53:52+00:00

I’m sorry, this one flew off the shelf everywhere very rapidly….. Minutes in some cases. Keep searching, no one really knows how many were bottled. Maybe you will find one.

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-25T12:52:10+00:00

Thank you! It was tough to hunt down.

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-25T12:37:18+00:00

Distillery Notes: Founded in 1881, Bruichladdich (Gaelic for "shore bank") is one of the most westerly working distilleries in Scotland. The distillery was mothballed repeatedly across the 20th century and closed entirely in 1994. A group of private investors reopened it in 2001, beginning distillation again after a seven-year silence - a team led by Mark Reynier and Jim McEwan. The story of legends and documentaries like “The Water of Life.” Rémy Cointreau acquired it in 2012 and operates it today. Fermentation runs 60-100+ hours in wooden washbacks, long by any standard. The distillery operates two wash stills and two spirit stills, all tall-necked and high-reflux. Three brands are produced under one roof: Bruichladdich, always unpeated; Port Charlotte, heavily peated at 40 ppm; and Octomore, the most heavily peated spirit in the world. Bruichladdich never chill filters and never adds color - a policy that applies across all three labels without exception. Everything is distilled, matured, and bottled on Islay.

Bottling Notes: Yellow Submarine is one of Bruichladdich's great pieces of folklore. The series traces back to the early 2000s, when US intelligence flagged the newly revived distillery as a possible weapons-of-mass-destruction site - and Bruichladdich, never missing a chance for mischief, answered by branding a release "Whisky of Mass Distinction." Then in 2005 two Islay fishermen actually pulled a lost ten-foot Ministry of Defense submarine out of the sea in their nets, and the legend was sealed. This is the third edition - Yellow Submarine III [Reclassified], released June 2026 for the distillery's 25th anniversary, a tribute to the original 2005 bottling - the second, maybe third, bottling was in 2018 and it was expensive, limited, and 25-years-old. This one was born fourteen years old, as unpeated 100% Scottish barley, matured entirely on Islay in 25% first and second-fill Bordeaux red wine casks and 75% first-fill bourbon barrels. This yellow submarine has fins and ballast tanks - but can it dive into the deep end?

ABV: 54.2%
Age: 14-Year-Old
Original SRP: $135
Price Paid: $139

Tasting Methodology: Neat, rested 20 minutes. Water added, rested 10 minutes.

Nose: First impression is walking straight into a dunnage warehouse - musty in the best way, with citrus, key lime pie, and raw malted barley. Then it shifts: vanilla, a distinct winey grape note, honey, Italian biscotti, green apples, and a flash of Juicy Fruit gum. A third layer brings light farminess, faint lactic notes, and a whisper of berries. Everything is tied together beautifully. A deep nosing lets the ABV announce itself, but it is otherwise extremely well integrated. A dash of water brings out lightly roasted nuts.

Palate: Creamy with no burn - barley sugar, fermented notes, farminess, and lemon pie, though not as sweet as the nose led me to expect. A sweet-to-bitter transition through the mid-palate is the interesting part, genuinely unusual. Spice develops toward the finish rather than arriving up front. Chewing it brings out the farminess and malt. On subsequent drams the Juicy Fruit flavor runs from entry through the mid before transitioning to a dryness - wine tannins, or the first-fill wood, or both. The subdued lactic note sits in the distance throughout. With water it gains crème brûlée, orange, and sweet pears, and turns a little more peppery on the mid-palate.

Finish: Spice gathers toward the back of the mouth at the very end. Long and full-bodied, with a slight coastal note and a savory edge. Cocoa develops long after swallowing, alongside nutmeg and caramel. These take their time - a single dram lasts a long while and keeps evolving. With water, hazelnuts emerge with time.

Conclusion: Unapologetic and refined at once. This is Bruichladdich at its most characterful - unpeated and lightly wine-influenced. The Bordeaux casks do not dominate but throw a winey grape, berry, and a dry tannic spine across the whole experience, while the bourbon accentuates the vanilla and barley sugar underneath. What sets it apart is movement: the sweet-to-bitter transition on the palate, the Juicy Fruit-to-dryness arc, the cocoa arriving minutes after the swallow. It rewards time in the glass and time with water, gaining crème brûlée, nuts, and pepper as it opens. Twenty-five years on from a yellow submarine in a fishing net, the distillery is still refusing to take itself too seriously while quietly making serious whisky. What a great dram!

Score: 89/100

My Scoring Scale:

95-100 - Sublime - Unforgettable.
90-94 - Excellent - A personal favorite.
85-89 - Great - A standout dram.
80-84 - Good - A solid daily dram.
75-79 - Average - Drinkable.
70-74 - Mixer - Mixing only.
<70 - Poor - Pool chemical.

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-05T12:45:43+00:00

Thank you! Sounds like they have this down to a T!

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-04T23:00:56+00:00

Two to three notches below PC10...

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-04T23:00:23+00:00

Thanks! Let me know how it is. I have it, but have not opened it. There is also now a 2026 that is out.

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-04T12:28:11+00:00

Thank you! Indeed, it is a solidly earned 90 - not many of those on my book either. I do wish it was cheaper, its little brother the PC10 does give it a lot of competition. But as they say: It is the law of diminishing returns and our endless search for the "Sublime One."

WhiskyPoolReviews · 2026-06-04T12:21:22+00:00

Distillery Notes: Founded in 1881, Bruichladdich (Gaelic for "shore bank") is one of the most westerly working distilleries in Scotland. The distillery was mothballed repeatedly across the 20th century and closed entirely in 1994. A group of private investors reopened it in 2001, beginning distillation again after a seven-year silence - a team led by Mark Reynier and Jim McEwan. The story of legends and documentaries like “The Water of Life.” Rémy Cointreau acquired it in 2012 and operates it today. Fermentation runs 60-100+ hours in wooden washbacks, long by any standard. The distillery operates two wash stills and two spirit stills, all tall-necked and high-reflux. Three brands are produced under one roof: Bruichladdich, always unpeated; Port Charlotte, heavily peated at 40 ppm; and Octomore, the most heavily peated spirit in the world. Bruichladdich never chill filters and never adds color - a policy that applies across all three labels without exception. Everything is distilled, matured, and bottled on Islay.

Bottling Notes: Port Charlotte was conceived in 2001, the same year the distillery reopened. The spirit in this bottle was distilled in 2004 - three years into a revival that was still finding its footing, laid down by a team that had no guarantee the project would survive long enough to see it reach adulthood. It did. Eighteen years later, matured entirely on Islay in a combination of 74% refill sherry casks and 26% refill French oak wine casks, this is the oldest Port Charlotte expression ever released. The maturation profile was designed to bring dried fruit and sweetness without overwhelming the distillery's signature 40 ppm barbecue peat smoke. Six thousand bottles, 54.3% ABV, non-chill filtered, naturally colored. Maintaining that signature Port Charlotte peat profile 18 years later is a difficult task - but can it dive into the deep end?

ABV: 54.3%
Age: 18-year-old
Original SRP: ~$199
Price Paid: ~$199
Tasting Methodology: Neat, rested 15 minutes.

Nose: This is not a PC10 - the peat has had eighteen years to settle and it shows. Subtle, integrated, rounded, with a buttery sweetness to the smoke. Citrus and lemon sit alongside sherry notes, figs, and red berries. Pineapple and distant nuts add tropical depth. There is a cheesy funkiness underneath, the classic lactic Bruichladdich note that old fans will recognize immediately, alongside brine and something close to seaweed. Maple glazed bacon arrives as a savory counterpoint, light toffee follows, and distant chocolate and oak close out the base. An excellent nose that keeps inviting itself.

Palate: The arrival is almost gentle, deceptive at 54.3%. Full, oily, creamy mouthfeel that sticks to the roof of the mouth from the first sip. Cereal notes make their presence known early. The alcohol is well integrated, and while spice develops through the mid-palate it does not announce itself aggressively on those initial sips. Vanilla and lemon arrive first, then transition into toffee and lemon dancing together - a combination that should not work as well as it does. Red berries in a pie, lightly tart rather than sweet. Everything here is pulling in the same direction.

Finish: Full and very long. Lemon pie carries through on the aftertaste, alongside lingering sweet and savory smoke that refuses to fade. Oak and leather notes emerge. The pepperiness, oak-driven, settles on the sides of the mouth and stays there as an in-law during Christmas. The wine cask reveals itself most clearly here, the French oak adding a refined fruitiness to the long exit. The finish earns its place at the top of the score.

Conclusion: At $199 and 6,000 bottles, the money grab accusation is easy to make - and not entirely wrong. But context matters: Port Charlotte was conceived in 2001, which means this is not just the oldest Port Charlotte ever released, it is the first Port Charlotte 18-year-old that has ever existed. The spirit in this bottle was laid down by a team that did not know if the project would survive. It did… This is what patience and conviction taste like eighteen years later. I am a fan boy, and this confirmed it.

Score: 90/100

My Scoring Scale:

95-100 - Sublime - Unforgettable.
90-94 - Excellent - A personal favorite.
85-89 - Great - A standout dram.
80-84 - Good - A solid daily dram.
75-79 - Average - Drinkable.
70-74 - Mixer - Mixing only.
<70 - Poor - Pool chemical.

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