Tasting "The General" With John Glaser at Empire State South

Empire State South held a tasting event on Wednesday with Compass Box Whisky Co. founder and whisky blender John Glaser. Glaser and Compass Box have taken blended Scotch to a completely new level since the company was founded in 2000. Initially an aspiring wine maker, Glaser got his start in the scotch industry working for Diageo, which owns blending giant Johnny Walker. As Glaser told me at the ESS event last night, he saw an opportunity to bring the same craft approach that had infiltrated the wine industry into the blended scotch industry. He pitched the idea to the Diageo folks, they passed, and Glaser took the leap and formed Compass Box.

The details of the ESS event has already been discussed by my buddy Richard of Whisk(e)y Apostle, so I won't repeat them here. I will, however, echo Richard's praise of Glaser, who was passionate, engaging, and came across as a guy who realized how cool of a gig he has. That is not necessarily the norm with these types of events.

The highlight of the night, without a doubt, was the surprise taste of "The General" that Glaser poured for me and my Georgia Bourbon Society friends. The General is a recently released and extremely unique "blend of blends" released by Compass Box, which is selling for a whopping $300. As Glaser explained, The General is made up of two blended scotch whiskies of unknown provenance, both of which were blended early on and then put back into casks to age. The first cask, acquired from a whisky broker, was 33 years old and the second cask, purchased from Gordon and MacPhail, clocked in at a whopping 40 years old. The two casks were then blended and bottled at cask strength, which is only 53.4% ABV due to its age. Basically, this is whiskey geek porn.

The General is by far the oldest whiskey (of any type) that I've ever tasted. The pour I had was only an ounce or so, so I won't attempt any detailed tasting notes. I will say that this is fan-freakin-tastic whisky, which has an incredible antique nose of polished wood, leather and old library books, a woody and complex palate, and a long satisfying finish. Hopefully, I will be able to acquire a full bottle to give it the attention that it deserves, but that may be easier said than done. Only 1,698 bottles were released worldwide (told ya Glaser is a nice guy!).