A Decade in the Making: Return of an Whiskey Exclusive Icon

David Othenin-Girard
K&L Spirits Buyer
Review Date: January 16, 2025

The privilege of selecting a custom batch of Compass Box cannot be understated. Only a handful of venues have ever been invited to collaborate with the great modern bespoke whisky maker. The blending and bottling of a K&L Exclusive Compass Box, led by the illustrious John Glaser, is one of our crowning achievements in sheer quality. It took us almost five years from the moment we first approached the brand before they agreed to it. That whisky, 5th & Harrison, was a blend of old Caol Ila and sherried Glen Ord—a coupling for the ages. With a killer price and a mysterious label (that was definitely NOT a drawing of any former K&L Spirits buyer), it sold out in just days for $180. Now, the few bottles that remain fetch over $1000 at auction.

Since then, so much has changed. John Glaser has handed the reins over to a new generation of whisky makers, and a new era of collaboration has blossomed. K&L now has a new location in Southern California, and much more. Nearly 10 years to the day that we began the process of creating 5th & Harrison, we’re ready to release a second custom batch, bottled exclusively for K&L Wine Merchants by Compass Box.

The act of blending whisky is one of the most gratifying and complex tasks I’ve had the incredible luck to perform. Blending whisky is not a materialistic endeavor that can be solved by wit and measure. The simple truth of blending is that 1+2≠3, and creating a whisky of great distinction and character is not as simple as just smashing three really good malts together. So, guided by the deft hand of Whisky Making Director and all-around splendid chap James Saxon, I embarked upon a supreme journey.

We loved the original 5th & Harrison style and wanted to stay within that realm. James had an incredible array of wonderful old sherried and peated whiskies to choose from, but it was quickly narrowed down to a few lots. They had old Ardbeg, Highland Park, Caol Ila, Bowmore, and sherried Glendullan or Tormore. I wasn’t simply looking to recreate the flavor profile of the original. Instead, I felt we needed to focus on creating the same experience of unbridled value for your dollar. That immediately ruled out working with Ardbeg—despite the quality of the distillate, it’s not only difficult to integrate, but also VERY expensive after 20 years of age.

I had assumed the same fate would hold true for the other Islay options, but after running the numbers, we found we could use significant portions of Bowmore aged for almost 23 years in ex-bourbon barrels. That product alone would fetch hundreds of dollars in today’s market. We married this with a gorgeous first-fill sherry butt of Glendullan, at least 21 years old. This little-known distillery can offer serious character and complexity when aged in quality casks. So little of it sees high-quality sherry casks, it’s hard to generalize about its character, but this barrel was absolutely first-rate. It brought out the deep tropical fruit and wild, exotic side of the Bowmore.

This original blend was supple and delicious—a 5th & Harrison redux, if you will—but it didn’t quite show the maturity of these two wonderful old spirits. In fact, the whiskies seemed to bring out the hidden youthfulness in each other, a noble trait, though it somehow masked some deeper complexities they exhibited separately. At James' suggestion, we explored the potential of adding a small amount of old rugged Caol Ila into the blend. This, too, I assumed would be cost-prohibitive, but we forged ahead anyway.

After nearly two and a half decades in refill American oak, the wild, jagged spirit of Caol Ila had smoldered into a dense singularity of salty ocean flavors. It was the feeling of boarding a weathered schooner—salt and tar-covered, with the captain’s pipe wafting as he steadied the wooden tiller. Whiffs of salted fish, sea spray, and diesel smoke completed the harbor scene. Ultimately, this final note brought the new batch together perfectly, retaining the wild freshness while pinpointing both a base and top note that brought forward the deeper elements of the first two malts.

The resulting blend is easily one of my favorite modern bottlings of Scotch in at least a decade. It exemplifies everything we are at K&L, providing a superior experience for an incredible price. I’ll attempt to do it justice here:

• Color: A stunning hue of chestnut (1.2).
• Nose: The finest and oldest things—old teak, cordovan, salt-encrusted rope, mango syrup, balsam, seaweed, bonfire, première eau, and marmalade.
• Palate: Bowmore shines at first, offering salted tropical fruit, fried plantains in honey, grilled lemons. Then, our Glendullan adds wild nutty oxidized rancio, dense spices, and freshly chopped dark chocolate.
• Finish: A heavy dose of lemon oil, old wood, baked orchard fruit, apricot jam, salted almonds, camphor, and smoldering tobacco.

It doesn’t need a drop of water—certainly not more than that, if you must. Bottled at extremely near cask strength (0.1-0.2%) and with no chill-filtration, coloring, or other additives whatsoever.

Today, to commemorate the expansion of K&L into new waters, we launch both 5th & Harrison II and Culver & Sepulveda. These two sister bottlings feature the exact same juice, but each label celebrates the two wonderful cities we call home. In some comedic twist of fate, we’re able to offer these wonders—an old blended malt Scotch whisky—at the exact same price as the previous K&L/Compass Box collaboration from over a decade ago. A true triumph.