Compass Box Scotch Tasting (by David Burbank)

Please welcome David Burbank, a writer and Scotch aficionado, to Massbytes! He will be starting a series reviewing various scotches and events, as well as providing us some knowledge on the ins and outs of the Scotch world.

I recently had the pleasure of attending a Scotch tasting at Federal Wine and Spirits in Boston. The menu consisted of Compass Box Whisky Company offerings and was presented by John Glaser, their founder and master whiskymaker.

Mr. Glaser is on a mission. As a general rule, blended Scotch has a bad reputation in the Scotch enthusiast market. There are a number of reasons for this perception, but the primary factor points to blends using components that are subpar or of dubious origin. Compass Box has already made great strides in shifting this belief. The majority of Mr. Glaser’s creations have received critical accolades worldwide.

I tasted a number of blended malt Scotches (and a single blended Scotch), but the gem of the night was the August 2012 limited edition, Flaming Heart.

Bottled at 48.9% ABV and non-chill filtered, the color in the glass is a rich gold. With added water, the Scotch clouds slightly (as is expected due to the non-chill process - I plan to go into the specifics of filtering in a future blog post).

This is a huge Scotch. On first taste, you experience mouth-filling peat with an iodine note, a campfire on the beach with sea salt in the air. As the flavor develops one gets a backbone of vanilla, gentle sherry nuttiness, a touch of cigar box cedar, black pepper, and clove. The consistency in the mouth is slightly viscous, a light velvet on the tongue. With a touch of water, any rough, bitter edges are smoothed out, and notes of candied orange appear mid-palate.

The components of the blend are Islay (primarily South Shore), Highland, Speyside, and Islands and the Scotch was aged in refill American ex-bourbon, French new oak, and sherry cask.

If Flaming Heart is within your budget constraints and you enjoy peat-forward Scotch, I would recommend adding this to your collection.

Caveat: Everyone’s palate is different - and tasting notes are a rough guide with much variation due to individual experience.

Soup of the Day: Scotch Broth

My last Chef stint was as the opening Chef at The Haven in Jamaica Plain, Boston's one and only Scottish gastropub.  In doing menu research, I found that some Scotland's best recipes were found in its rich tradition of funny-named soups.  I created my own versions of Scottish staples like Cock a Leekie and Cullen Skink, but perhaps my favorite was Scotch Broth, a hearty wintertime soup of lamb, barley, and root vegetables.  Here's my recipe for Scotch Broth:

1 lamb shank
1 onion, large dice
1/2 bunch of thyme, 3 bay leaves
Chicken stock (homemade is best, low-sodium store-bought is fine)
2 cups pearl barley
1 rutabaga, 2 parsnips, 2 carrots, peeled, large dice

Pre-heat a pot to medium high.  Season the lamb shank thoroughly with salt.  Add a bit of canola oil and sear the lamb shank, turning it every minute or two so that all sides get well browned, and remove.  Turn the heat down to medium low, add the diced onion and a pinch of salt, and sweat until translucent.  Tie the 1/2 bunch of fresh thyme with butchers twine so the stems can be removed later, add the tied thyme, the bay leaves, and the browned lamb shank.  Add enough chicken stock to cover the shank by 1".  On high heat, bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook for 2-3 hours, or until the shank is tender.

Meanwhile, toast the barley in the oven on a sheet tray until is is golden brown.  Make sure you open that oven up a few times and stir that barley, don't let it burn.  Dice your root vegetables.  When the shank is tender, remove it from the broth, and add the barley.  Cook the barley until it is just tender to the bite.  Meanwhile, pick the meat off the shank, and add it back to the broth.  When the barley is minutes from being ready, add the root vegetables, and cook for a few minutes until vegetables are tender but not mushy.  Season to taste with salt (if you use store bought chicken stock, there is already sodium in it and you may not need to add much salt, if any).  Remove the thyme tie and bay leaves, ladle and serve.

This yields a good amount of Scotch Broth.  You can freeze the leftovers in single portions for future use.  It's a great soup to make in bulk, so don't hesitate to double it if your freezer is empty, you can reheat it from frozen in a pot or in the microwave.  It's a meal on its own, and it's also great when you're feeling sick.

Optional: At The Haven, we served our Scotch Broth in a bowl with a roasted 2" beef marrow bone with a straw, so customers can slurp the marrow and broth in a fun, fatty, silly, delicious way.  Also, this soup is rich on its own, the marrow made it over the top, (plus I added a pat of butter to each soup wink wink), so we garnished the soup with chopped fresh parsley and lemon zest (gremolata), which I recommend, whether you use go the extra mile with the marrow or not.

-Chef Wax