Compass Box The Peat Monster Cask Strength Origin Story (70cl, 56.7%)

This is the 20th-anniversary edition of Compass Box's The Peat Monster, a cask-strength blended malt bottled at 56.7% in a 70cl bottle. It is non-chill-filtered, with no added colour, and was released in a numbered run of 9,126 bottles. The Peat Monster began in 2003, when Jonathan Goldstein of Park Avenue Liquor in New York asked John Glaser for an exclusive peaty whisky. Origin Story celebrates those New York roots, with label artwork by Mark Burckhardt. About half the blend was finished for three to four months in custom virgin American oak barrels from Missouri. The recipe is 63.9% Caol Ila, 35% Laphroaig and 1.1% Highland malt. The nose offers sooty barbecue smoke, green apple, citrus oils and cinnamon. On the palate come tar, smoked almond, vanilla, seaweed, salt and cayenne pepper. The finish is long, with smoke, cinnamon and tobacco.