Compass Box Hedonism Felicitas 20th Anniversary

Compass Box Hedonism Felicitas 20th Anniversary is a blended grain Scotch from Compass Box, marrying grain whiskies from more than one distillery. Blended grain is a rare category, built to show the soft, sweet, creamy side of grain rather than the punch of malt. The closed Port Dundas was one of the grain distilleries whose stock fed such blends.

Grain is distilled continuously in column stills rather than batch pot stills, giving a light, clean spirit that matures quickly and sweetly. Matured in a refill ex-Bourbon cask, letting the clean grain character speak. With little of its own weight to fight, grain takes a cask's character readily. Marrying several grain whiskies lets the maker build a rounder, more layered profile than one cask could give.

At its natural 53% it is powerful. The oak lactones a creamy coconut, vanilla comes from the oak lignin, and a fudge sweetness from caramelised hemicellulose, with the soft grain spirit carrying it. A touch of warm spice lifts the creamy body. The finish is smooth, sweet and lingering. A polished, sweet style of Scotch that wears its grain character with pride.