Compass Box Peat Monster Arcana is a limited edition of their well-known blended malt Peat Monster, celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the company. At the heart of this whisky was the question: what if we matured Peat Monster in French oak?
Eventually they created a mix of four components:
- 72.9% Talisker from refill hogsheads
- 10.6% Miltonduff from first-fill bourbon barrels
- 9.6% of the original Peat Monster at cask strength, matured for a few years in a refill custom French oak barrels with heavily toasted cask ends (these casks are normally used to mature their trademark Highland Malt blend which is at the base of most of their creations)
- 6.9% Ardbeg from recharred barrels
Apparently there is a different (preliminary) recipe on the packaging…
Compass Box Peat Monster Arcana (46%, OB 2020, blended malt, 8328 btl.)
Nose: the generous dose of Talisker is clearly noticeable. Relatively gentle, ashy smoke, a bit of briney sharpness, kippers, some pepper and leather saddle. In the background there’s a faint fruity note (peaches maybe) and a hint of milk chocolate, as well as some cinnamon spice.
Mouth: more toasted oak spice now. Pepper, cinnamon and ginger, mixing with light mentholated notes and after a while also a waxy side. Hints of yellow apple, vanilla and acacia honey. Drops of cough medicine and dried seaweed.
Finish: medium and fairly dry, with some of the chocolatey notes, ashes and light herbal notes.
A very nice blended malt. Who would have thought otherwise with such a high amount of Talisker? Available from The Whisky Exchange or Master of Malt for instance.