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Compass Box: whisky born of obsession
It's the little things that teach you an awful lot about someone. On our arrival at Compass Box headquarters John Glaser offered us a cup of coffee, nothing unusual in that, but it's how he made the coffee that was interesting.
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Having filled the kettle with a measured dose of water, he carefully ground and weighed the coffee before switching off the kettle at a precise temperature - shortly before the water could boil. The coffee was then carefully filtered, with just the right amount of water and grounds at the optimum temperature, into three cups. It was of course delicious. This is a man with obsessive attention to detail.
John Glaser, a charismatic and intense American, is devoted to “craft” which he defines as “making something better for the sake of it” and works tirelessly to produce blended and vatted whiskies which are just that – better for the sake of it.
Along the way he has experimented with wood technology, breaking some of the rules, causing him to come into conflict with the whisky regulators over the use of new oak staves inside casks. Today he operates within the rules, gone are the internal structures in his casks, but he still strives to innovate and move the whisky industry forward.
Tradition is a moving target
His ethos is based on a mixture of respect for tradition - where lessons can be learned - and pushing boundaries - where things can be done better.
His ethos is based on a mixture of respect for tradition - where lessons can be learned - and pushing boundaries - where things can be done better. “Tradition is a moving target”, he says which is why he has taken lessons learned from wine production and put advanced wood techniques into practise in the crafting of his whisky.
His blends and vattings only contain whisky from carefully sourced active casks, never contain spirit caramel - which he abhors with a passion, are not chill filtered, contain fewer ingredient whiskies than most blends and are married and further matured in casks after blending.
In our film on Compass Box you can find out more about his approach and philosophy and get a sense of what drives the man behind some of the most interesting blended whiskies on the market.
Also check out the Compass Box competition in this issue as well as the views of the Connosr tasting panel on some of his whiskies.
Have your say
Tell us what you think about some of the issues John raises in the film interview. Can caramel colouring ever be a good thing? Should he be allowed to use oak staves in casks? Should traditions be preserved or should the whisky industry be allowed more freedom to move forwards with new technical innovations?
Also in this issue
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Comments
robdoyle wrote:
I would think an agreement would need to be had to define what a whisky is. Innovation isn't bad, but should it still be called a whisky or something else? I certainly wouldn't want anything other than a traditional single malt called a single malt.
But if what he makes is good, let's drink it :)
chrisrbarrett wrote:
The cask, while a crucially important portion of the taste of whisky, is the most subjective aspect of the whole of the process. I don't see how Compass Box's specialized barrels are any more offside than octaves or first fill barrels.
In the end our expectation is good tasting single malt (or vatted) whisky and this is the art of the blender. Knowing who blended the whisky and what their goal was is far more important to the flavour than knowing the age or barrel structure (or refill quantity).
galg wrote:
John Glaser is indeed a genius. and makes amazing whiskies. love the Peat Monster and the Oak Cross / Spice Tree.
lovely.
markjedi1 wrote:
Apart from the fact that this piece is fantastically informative, kudos to the makers. The music, the images, the titles, the whole setup basically is brilliant. Well done, Connosr!
KHvonLoman wrote:
Very interesting story, makes me want to try these blends. Video is outstanding!!
Big Peat wrote:
In today's world, seems like even the smallest portion of a food or drink is altered unnaturally in some way. Question is: Does caramel coloring harm the whisky? Change the taste? If all it does is darken the whisky, I don't see the harm. If it alters the taste, smell, and texture of the whisky.... then it is wrong to use it. John should most definitely be allowed to use oak staves in his casks. He seems to be onto something with the idea. He's not completely dismissing tradition, just refining it a bit. Great video!
jfpilon wrote:
He sounds a lot like one of my favorite bottler: Michel Couvreur
jwise wrote:
The staves is just a cheaper and more efficient way of doing the same thing. Its not like he is adding a liquid compound to change the characteristics of the whisky (oops, that would be spirit caramel!) I HATE the caramel additive, simply because it is DECEIVING me! I want the whisky I drink to be true to their nature. If the whisky comes out of the cask a light chardonnay color, let me drink it like that. Because I am used to drinking whisky with this coloring additive, it was surprising to me when I saw an Independent Bottling that was much lighter. Stop chill-filtering and stop caramel additives!
ProPatria wrote:
I dont see how using barrel staves is a break from orthodoxy in the Scotch Whisky business. The basic concept does not change, the ageing process alowws the flavours of the wood to permeate into the blend, what difference does it make if the wood used is an added layer on the inside of the cask?
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