Above five stars.Ī: An outstanding bottle of whiskey, but lacking that special something which makes for a true masterpiece. A+: A masterpiece and one of the ten best whiskeys of its type. Some 'premium' whiskeys really are quite terrible, while some mass market products are good enough to pour into a decanter and serve to the Duke of Edinburgh. The following indicators should be taken as only a guide and not a set of hard and fast rules. The Whiskey Reviewer uses a letter-based rating system, instead of the numerical 100-grade rating system.

Good as it is, it’s not filling a particular niche in such a near-perfect way.Ĭompass Box sells Hedonism Quindecimus for £128. I was very sincere in my admiration of Hedonism as an aperitif whisky, and this special version doesn’t fit that bill in quite the same way. My opinion is that Quindecimus veered away from the flavor template of the regular Hedonism, and while it is a fine whisky, that wasn’t necessary a good thing. Now keeping all that in mind, I’d expected a light finish, and the aftertaste is light enough as to almost not be there, but the wind-down on Hedonism Quindecimus is actually quite warm and lingering. Throw in the fruity notes of apple and pineapple, and you’ve got something that smacks of candy while retaining it’s light, grain whisky texture. In that, it’s strongly suggestive of bourbon barrel aging. On the palate, the vanilla comes more to the fore, taking a turn into solid caramel territory.

As I’d expect from a vatted grain, it’s sweet, light stuff. The color of this whisky is of wet, yellow straw, while the nose delivers a core of ripe apples seasoned with a hint of vanilla.

At the eight year mark was Hedonism Maximus, and now that the expression has reached 15 years we have Hedonism Quindecimus.īottled in February 2015, Hedonism Quindecimus is a 5,869-bottle run of a limited edition, and a 46% abv, five-distillery vatted grain. To date, the only vatted grain of real note has been Compass Box’s Hedonism.Ĭompass Box makes a habit of celebrating anniversaries with limited edition versions of their regular line, and so it is with Hedonism, which I described as an ideal aperitif whisky. Part of this is the relatively small number of grain distilleries in Scotland (just seven), and part is lack of interest. Yet the idea of making a vatted grain whisky, a blend of grain whiskies from more than one distillery, remains a relatively small niche. Interest in grain whiskies has been coming back in recent years, with single grains in particular appearing in the Irish and Scottish sectors.

Compass box hedonism quindecimus whisky