Compass Box 'The Spice Tree'

The second generation of The Spice Tree. (This new expression sports a much larger tree image on the front label.) While the first bottling used inner French oak staves to impart additional oak influence, this one uses French oak barrel heads. This new bottling is also bolder, displaying more oak -- there are more dried spice notes and it’s more viscous and clinging on the palate. (It’s also less elegant than the original bottling.) Notes of sticky toffee, vanilla fudge, bramble, and red currant give way to oak resin, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and subtle lemongrass. A tactile, somewhat resinous, polished leather finish wraps it up. A nice whisky, but I really enjoy the subtler, more elegant nature of the original bottling better.