Compass Box Delos Blended Scotch Whisky
Delos, the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis and a commercial and political center of the Ancient Greek world, is spectacular.
You reach Delos by first going to Mykonos and taking a short ferry ride through the Aegean. My wife and I visited on our honeymoon and were the last visitors of the season. As such, we had a virtually tourist-free experience. No rushing around, no being jostled by crowds, just a leisurely tour around one of the most impressive archaeological sites in the Western world.
Greece is full of such sites, but few can match Delos in breadth or length of history. Its artifacts are, thankfully, mostly still on-site, though bits and pieces are in the British Museum, the Archaeological Museum in Athens, and a lion originally gifted by the people of Naxos that now overlooks the Venetian Arsenal.
Walking the paths flanked by a hodge-podge of patchy grass, gravel, and marble shards that once could have been artifacts of their own, it’s the most immersive archaeological visit I’ve ever experienced. Even Pompeii falls short, if only because of the ubiquitous signage and more formalized visitor structure (meant, of course, to protect the once-buried city).
At Delos, with rare exception, you need your guide to tell you what is what, which weathered marble is merely a wall and what is a wind-smoothed piece of statuary. Outside of the island’s museum, the landscape looks as though much of it has just been uncovered. From the moment you step off the boat, you are embraced by an immense air of history.
It is fitting, then, for Compass Box to use Delos as the inspiration for the second in their Extinct Blends Quartet (the first being Ultramarine). Blending three malt whiskies - one each from Miltonduff, Imperial, and Glen Elgin Distilleries - and one grain whisky from Cameronbridge, the result is all about honoring a long-standing Compass Box icon: Asyla.
I only had the pleasure of trying Asyla once, and I do not have notes on it. The blend existed from 2001-2018 and was designed to be three things: delicate, fruity, and balanced. Named as a place of refuge, it should be comforting, offering you asylum after a long day, comfort from a glass, a highland-style blend with body and gravitas.
Sadly, this blend is now gone, and only 5,520 bottles of Delos are here to replace it. Using older stocks, some from ghost distilleries (Imperial happens to be a favorite of mine), Whiskymaker James Saxon has created a new asylum.
This dram is transportive. I want to drink it in a library full of oak shelves and old books, surrounded by history. In name and feeling, it brought me back to Delos and Delos back to me. It reminded me that whisky should make you feel something - the intangibles that make even the greatest whiskies into outstanding ones aren’t in the nose or palate, but in the experience.
Compass Box Delos Blended Scotch Whisky: Specs
Classification: Blended Scotch Whisky
Origin: Port Dundas Distillery, North British Distillery, and Strathclyde Distillery
Mashbill: 83.1% Malt Whisky (21.2% Miltonduff, 33.4% Imperial, 28.5% Glen Elgin), 16.9% Grain Whisky (Cameronbridge)
Proof: 98 (49% ABV)
Age: NAS
Location: Scotland
Compass Box Delos Blended Scotch Whisky: Price: $300
Compass Box Delos Blended Scotch Whisky: Tasting Notes
Eye: Pale gold, summer straw. Thin rims let teardrop legs fall, though they stop before hitting the bottom.
Nose: Malty with a slightly smoky (not peaty) quality. Smells old in a good way, like old books and libraries - my happy place. Candied lemons, flesh and all. Lots of American oak creaminess and oak spice, not much woodiness.
Palate: Dry and fruity, like a well-oaked Chardonnay. Malt and peppery bite up front give way to a filling, creme brûlée custard filling. The American oak and old bookshelves are familiar and soothing. Spots of lemon drops pop in and out, adding more fruity and candied notes. Mouthfeel is piquant and coating, oily and creaming, filling the whole palate and settling under.
Finish: Medium-length, the stronger vanillas of the grain whiskies and the casks partnering beautifully. Stays full-bodied to the end.
Overall: I feel like I should be drinking this in a leather chair surrounded by old oak bookshelves. Simple in one way - vanilla, malt, full-bodied - and complex in another, giving every comfort one should feel when history surrounds you. Experience-wise, a top-of-the-year pour for me. Just shy of Ultramarine, if only by nature of its simplicity, but make no mistake that this is something not to be missed.
Final Rating: 8.4
10 | Insurpassable | Nothing Else Comes Close
9 | Incredible | Extraordinary
8 | Excellent | Exceptional
7 | Great | Well above average
6 | Very Good | Better than average
5 | Good | Good, solid, ordinary
4 | Has promise but needs work
1-3 | Let’s have a conversation
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