Here’s another excellent blended whisky in my little set of reviews; we’ve looked at very affordable, good blends, all the way up to this, an über premium blend, and price (it’s old!).

Official blurb: It’s been a good year for sourcing ridiculously rare parcels of extraordinary whisky. The provenance of these two parcels, blended together at a young age and then put back into cask for many years, was not important. They had matured into something extraordinary in flavour and were beautifully complementary. The result, bottled at cask strength, boasts an ‘antique’ character that lovers of old whiskies seek out. The associations of The General, however, are more akin to that of Buster Keaton’s classic 1926 film of the same name where the General is an old steam locomotive which Keaton takes on a long and wild ride to try to save the love of his life.  Only 1,698 bottles of this whisky have been produced. One parcel was 33 years-old and the other 40 years-old.

On to the review…

Compass Box – The General – 53.4%

Colour: Dark Burnt Gold

Nose: A classic old, antique type of nose. A woody, Speyside dunnage type style with sweet notes hiding a little and then coming out in waves with a touch of gentle smoke somewhere in the background and a little spirit at the back. Fistfuls of autumnal fruits.

Palate: Quite thick in your mouth, gently spiced although reasonably smooth considering the high abv, indicating the presence of the well balanced and old malts. Sweet, but not too sweet, it’s balanced with slightly sour oaks so that both are in harmony. If held on the tongue for a while it becomes gently fizzy (in a good way).

Finish: Velvety and luxurious, it covers your throat nicely and warms your chest like a wee warm fire. The silky sweet smooth oils stick around for a good long while.

Water: Releases spirit notes to the nose more easily. Also releases a touch more spices into the palate.

Thoughts: The smoothness of this dram could easily lead you to think it has less abv than it really does! It’s a top dram crafted beautifully. It’s expensive (but you are buying old whisky so it would be!). 92.

Available from The Whisky Exchange for £180.

Thanks to Compass Box for the sample.