Great King Street: Glasgow Blend Scotch Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

Two decades ago, an American marketing executive who had worked on the Johnnie Walker brand decided to start his own whisky company. His name was John Glaser, that company was Compass Box, and he has since become one of the most laureled figures in Scotch whisky today. I would not go so far as to say Glaser’s name is synonymous with crafty, independent blending and bottling… but his name always comes into it whenever that subject comes up.

I’ve been covering Compass Box and their Great King Street brand for as long as as this website has been around, and first wrote about Great King Street: The Glasgow Blend when it was introduced in 2014. While the actual substance of this sourced and blended whisky hasn’t changed in those seven years, I think it is a good idea to give a whisky another proper consideration from time to time (and when one can). Having not done any work on Compass Box for a while, I thought I should, and came back around to this expression.

The Glasglow Blend grew out of a pair of 2013 experimental releases from Compass Box. One was actually called the Orange Blend, and despite Glasgow’s orange labeling, this expression is actually derived from the other one, the Blue Blend. I say that because both are made using a 1/3 Lowland grain, 2/3 malt formulation, whereas the Orange experiment was a wholly separate creature. The malt whiskies came from the Highlands, Islay and Speyside (which is to say, potentially anywhere but the few distilleries not in those regions). The whisky is bottled unfiltered, and one change that I note is the strength of it: in 2014, my notes and original review placed it at 46%, but today it is bottled at 43% ABV.

The Scotch
Comparing against my notes, I found little had changed in dialing down the alcohol content a bit. In the glass, the whisky shows a lemony, pale yellow coloring, akin to a hefty white wine. The nose shares a little of that fruity character, with an aspect of citrus zest, mint, and ginger spice, but balanced with salty sea spray and a few drops of oily creosote. In terms of flavor, the whisky delivers a smoky, woody current, balanced by a pear-sweet note seasoned with cookie spice and an extra dash of salt; all this coming on a slick, oily mouthfeel. The finish leaves a spicy coat on the tongue, and winds down with buttery warmth.

This scotch is a sipper you take your time with, and is an ideal candidate for trotting out to those who obsesses over single malts and think a blend is synonymous with cheap crap. As I’ve written before, I liked it at least as much, and perhaps just a bit more, than the original Great King Street, and I’m strongly considering picking up a bottle for my cabinet.

The Price
Another thing that has changed is the pricing, which has improved relatively speaking. The original 50cl bottle seems to be gone everywhere. If you are in the US, you can expect this to come in a full-sized, 750 ml bottle, and pay $40 to $50 for it. The price is roughly the same as 2014, but you get more whisky for it.