Compass Box Art & Decadence Blended Scotch (70cl, 49%)

Art & Decadence is a blended Scotch built around malt whisky finished in dessert-wine casks. The base is Balmenach, rested for just under a year in former Sauternes, Madeira and Marsala casks. Linkwood from Palo Cortado butts used for the first time for whisky and Glen Moray finished in first-use Oloroso sherry butts join it, while single grain from Port Dundas adds a silky texture. Released in November 2023 in an edition of 9,496 bottles, it is bottled at 49% with natural colour and a light 10-micron filtration rather than chill-filtering. The label draws on the aesthetic and decadent movements of late nineteenth-century Britain. Red apples, waxed wood and wine notes open the nose, followed by creamy liquorice, banana, toffee and vanilla cream. Pale raisins, apricots, apple and plenty of vanilla come through on the palate, and dark chocolate and oak linger.