Whisky : Compass Box Magic Cask (2020 Ed.)

Country/Region : Scotland/Blended Malt

ABV : 46%

Cask : First Fill Bourbon, First Fill Oloroso Butt

Age : NAS

Nose : Saltwater taffy, fruity candies, and subtle florals.  Browsing an old fashioned candy story with watermelon drops, pomegranate licorice, and lemon peel gummies.  Perfumed floral and spice notes of rose hips, black pepper, and jujube— almost potpourri-esque.  Big bowl of fruity pebbles.

Palate : Light body with a subtle waxy-chalky mouthfeel and crisp floral-fruity profile.  Pomegranate Oolong tea, blueberries, rosewater, and watermelon candies all came back around again.  On the back end were sugar cookies with sprinkles and a blueberry vanilla butter cream frosted cupcake.

Finish : Medium to shorter finish with fruity tea and sugar cookies

Score : 5

Mental Image : Blueberry Green Tea Beverage

Notes : Why did Ito-En discontinue their blueberry green tea?  That was by far one of my favorite bottled tea beverages during University and for years afterwards.  It had a slightly funky berry-floral flavor, not unlike this dram, and I suppose it just did not appeal to many people beyond myself.

This was a really interesting dram.  I loved how the creamy Imperial and heavily sherried young malt combined.  It certainly felt as though the sherried malt came through much stronger than the Imperial, though there were some nice pastry notes (or Fruity Pebble cereals) that popped in occasionally.  The mouthfeel was a bit light on this, but it was incredibly fragrant and I did enjoy those slightly exotic fruit notes.

Overall, while I did enjoy the flavor profile and found this to be unique, it was a bit on the thin side and even though the bulk of this (92%) came from Imperial, a ghost distillery, the price point put it above what I would find tempting.

Image Credit : The Whisky World