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Thursday, September 24, 2015

COMPASS BOX LAUNCHES NEW LIMITED EDITION BOTTLING INSPIRED BY 1929 SURREALIST ARTWORK

Compass Box, one of Scotland’s leading artisan whisky makers, has announced the release of a new limited edition blended Scotch whisky; ‘This is not a luxury whisky’ inspired by a 1929 surrealist artwork.

Compass Box ‘This is not a luxury whisky’ (53.1% ABV) was inspired by Belgian surrealist artist RenĂ© Magritte’s 1929 concept piece: “Ceci n’est pas une pipe”, a surrealist painting which challenges people’s perceptions of reality.
Compass Box - 'This is not a luxury whisky'

This latest Compass Box release is made from a blend of Glen Ord 19 Year Old and Caol Ila 30 Year Old single malts and Girvan 40 Year Old and Strathclyde 40 Year Old grain whiskies..

Commenting on and elaborating on the thinking behind ‘This is not a luxury whisky’, Compass Box Founder John Glaser, said: “The idea with this bottling is to challenge people’s perceptions about what represents a ‘luxury’ whisky – or, put another way, a whisky worth paying a lot of money for. Over recent years, we’ve seen a growing trend in the Scotch industry towards super-premium releases that position Scotch whiskies as ‘luxury goods’ or status symbols to be displayed and traded – rather than as liquids to be consumed and enjoyed. As whisky makers, we wanted to release a product that would encourage people to question what it is that makes a luxury whisky a luxury.”

He went on to say: “Similar to what Magritte did with his painting of a pipe that claimed it was not a pipe, we wanted to see what would happen if we put a rare, old, expensive liquid in an explicitly ‘non-luxury’ container. Would it diminish the whisky in any way? Would the liquid inside be seen as less desirable simply because of what was written on the front label? Or would the true measure of the whisky prove to be the amber liquid inside? That’s what we hope to get people thinking about with this release.”

Limited to 4,992 bottles, Compass Box ‘This is not a luxury whisky’ will be available from specialist retailers next month for a RRP of £150.

Compass Box has also announced the release of a special Fifteenth Anniversary Limited Edition of its much acclaimed Flaming Heart bottling, as part the company's 15th birthday celebrations.

Originally created in 2006, Flaming Heart was the first ever whisky to combine the rich, complex spice of Scotch aged in new French oak with the evocative peat-fired smoke of Islay malt.

Limited to 12,060 bottles, Compass Box Flaming Heart Fifteenth Anniversary Limited Edition (48.9% ABV) will be available from specialist retailers next month for a RRP of £100.00.

Posted by Steve Rush