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Compass Box Scotch Whiskymakers are thrilled to announce their first Limited Edition of 2022, Vellichor (SRP $450;44.6% ABV). This new expression, inspired by the experience, emotion, and aroma of old bookshops, is ideal for collectors and whisky enthusiasts alike and will only have 3,246 bottles available worldwide. Vellichor will be available from select specialist retailers.
“To us, Vellichor starts with a word and an emotion: the experience of being in a second-hand bookshop and being enveloped by its aroma,” says Whiskymaker, James Saxon. “We scoured Scotland for the volumes we needed to express this, eventually discovering two parcels of Scotch whisky from a distiller and bottler in Speyside. Both were blends that had been aged further in Sherry casks and were more than two decades old. These are some of our favorite whiskies to work with and we have capitalized on such discoveries before with previous Limited Editions, including The General and The Circus. Refining the very specific aromas of old books with whisky has been a moving process for us.”
‘Vellichor’ itself is a word that describes and embodies the fragrance and nostalgia of old books found within second-hand bookshops. This sentiment flows through all elements of the bottle as it is shown in the artwork with the aesthetic of aged, well-used paper, and the shades of brown and yellow convey the accumulated age of the whisky components they have used to create such a special whisky. The complex, transportive aroma of old books is a favorite of Compass Box Whiskymaker and founder, John Glaser, and Compass Box Whiskymaker, James Saxon. They both studied literature and spent many hours in densely packed libraries; creating a whisky that embodies this atmosphere and unique fragrance was a great adventure for them both.
Compass Box has combined rare, Sherry-matured blends with malt whiskies from the sought-after Highland Park and Macallan distilleries, together with a small amount of very old whisky from the Caol Ila Distillery. Not many blends feature 23-year-old whisky from the Macallan Distillery, fewer still are built around even older whisky from the Highland Park Distillery. It is the smoky and tropically fruity nature of this set of casks from the famous Orkney distillery that inspired the idea.
