Since its founding in 2000, London-based blended Scotch whisky maker Compass Box has become known for its creative approach to liquid, its artful design and the collectability of many of its expressions.
Having established a recent presence in travel retail with its vibrant – though very different – Orchard House and The Peat Monster whiskies, the company has just developed its first travel retail-exclusive limited edition titled The Travelling Circus. Some 9,306 bottles (around 1,500 six-bottle cases) were produced, priced at a recommended £150 for a 70cl bottle.
It makes its debut this month with Dubai Duty Free, where it appears as the first Whisky of the Month in the retailer’s redeveloped Concourse B/C liquor & tobacco store.
After an initial period of exclusivity with Dubai Duty Free – featuring sampling activations in-store plus a big outreach campaign including online – the expression will roll out to other partners. Compass Box last year partnered with drinks representative Duty Free Global to build its presence in travel retail.
Maurice Doyle, long-time, well-respected and highly influential drinks and travel retail veteran, has been Compass Box CEO since investors Caelum Capital bought into the company in 2022.
He says: “We are relatively new to travel retail having introduced Orchard House and The Peat Monster at Cannes in 2023, but it’s a priority channel for us today. We see the potential to really do something different and exciting.
“We have exciting growth plans internationally and as we expand globally, the visibility that travel retail offers will be very important.”
Doyle adds: “If I take a step back to when I entered the channel in 2006 [with the creation of the Bacardi Global Travel Retail division -Ed], in many ways the industry looks very similar, but consumers have moved on.
“We think there’s a real opportunity for some positive disruption. And in our own modest way we believe we can we can add to that by being what we call ‘heretics with positive intent’.
“Many travellers are looking for something different. Our target market is modern Scotch appreciators, people who already know a bit about Scotch and want to continue their journey to explore more.
“And for these people, we know that travel is very important. There is a high correlation between our target market and people that travel internationally. And we believe the opportunity is there to create disruption that can help the retailers, interest the consumers and benefit our business.”
The Travelling Circus was created at Compass Box’s Blending Rooms by Whiskymaker James Saxon, who recently assumed the role following the exit of Founder John Glaser (who remains a shareholder).
The new edition was inspired by The Circus, another Compass Box limited-edition blend from 2016.
The Travelling Circus carries smoky notes through whiskies from the Talisker and Caol Ila distilleries, which are layered with Speyside sherry character and finished with liquid from the now closed Port Dundas distillery.
Saxon says: “We are incredibly pleased with the arrival of The Travelling Circus. The balance of sherry cask maturation and complex smokiness is something of a hallmark for Compass Box, and those who are fans of our whiskies will enjoy dissecting this latest composition. For those new to Compass Box, this is a globe-trotting introduction to the sorts of places we can explore when creatively combining high-quality Scotch whiskies.”
In some ways, the reputation of Compass Box as an innovator from creative blending to pack design exceeds its size and scale as a business.
While the brand is available in over 55 countries, its distribution remains relatively modest at around 50,000 cases of six in 2023.
But its impact in whisky industry circles, the on-trade and among whisky enthusiasts speaks to a brand that punches well above its sales weight.
That began and continued until very recently with John Glaser, who set out 24 years ago to challenge some of the norms around whisky making and explore new boundaries.
Doyle says: “Compass Box is not for everybody but those in the tribe love it – and it’s that tribe that we are trying to widen. Whatever people think, Compass Box should never be vanilla, and should never incite indifference.”
International Commercial Director Kerrin Egalka adds: “Our ethos from the very beginning has always been to make the world of Scotch whisky a more interesting place.
“John really believed in the purity of Scotch whisky and about creating good Scotch blends for the sake of good blends, not because they should look great on the shelf or are going to sell more bottles.”
Then, as now, Compass Box aims to play its part in facing down conventions. A core and fervently held belief at Compass Box is that a blend of excellent component whiskies can rival any single malt for complexity and taste.
Another is that whisky should be bottled without chill-filtering and using its natural colours only.
Not only that, but the company rejects the idea of age statements as the determinant of quality – it favours flavour and character, noting that age statements can often be misleading.
To illustrate the last point, the only Compass Box whisky with an age statement is its 3 Year Old Deluxe. This houses a 96% share of 25 Year Old whisky but under Scotch whisky rules it had to be called a 3 Year Old as that was the age of the youngest whisky in the blend.
Egalka says: “We really believe that whisky can be better if you add some young liquid to it. For us, the 3 Year Old was a playful subversion of the norm. For all the places where it’s a challenge to convince people that age statements don’t matter, there are as many where people take the message onboard.”
Doyle adds: “Not relying on age means we won’t be relevant to everyone. And that’s fine. We have a niche and we want to grow that niche.”
Transparency is another core value, with the story of the blend told on the bottle and enhanced details readily available online.
For every whisky the company’s website advises what distillery it is from, the age of each component, what cask it was housed in and what type of wood it matured in. The Compass Box team says it is “fanatical” about the use of oak and how it is sourced.
Given the many distilleries from which Compass Box takes stock right across Scotland, there is no single style at play, though Egalka summarises one thread running through the range as “ethereal elegance”.
She adds: “All of our expressions are approachable, they are elegant. Take Orchard House, our bestselling whisky. It is about the blend of distilleries that combine to make a fruit-forward whisky. The texture and palette is like a take on Japanese whisky with its nuance and complexity. It’s an all-rounder, very accessible and is just like drinking the label.”
The other leading brand across all markets is The Peat Monster, which leans heavily on Caol Ila and Laphroaig, and carries a soft, briny though not over-salty style.
Egalka says: “We blend agnostically, not according to the many great brands we work with – we paint with different colours using these lovely single malts. That’s why we describe ourselves as much more than blenders, but as whisky makers.”
The clear propositions offered by The Peat Monster and Orchard House – and their status as bestsellers – made them sensible choices for travel retail initially, says Doyle.
“For a new audience you need to be very clear what you are offering. We know travellers are busy and to make it easy to know what you are buying is important.”
To this offer The Travelling Circus fits in well as a third travel retail SKU and the first to launch only in the channel.
For Compass Box and its partners at Duty Free Global, retailers are also looking for difference, even if they still rely on the power of the heavyweight brands to drive volume and sales.
Doyle says: “I think there is a willingness to evolve and try something fresh in travel retail. It’s certainly a journey we want to go on with the retail partners.
“Their shoppers want to see more excitement too. Our fans are our collaborators. What they like about Compass Box is it allows them to express their individuality, not just standing out from the crowd, but actually exploring things and going on a journey themselves.
“We are offering them an opportunity to do something different. And that’s what we’re offering the retailer partners too, the chance to stand out.”
Whatever this new phase brings for Compass Box, the company is committed to building on its presence as a disruptive force in whisky making.
“We are looking at recruiting new whisky drinkers all the time by being different,” says Doyle. “You cannot say to them, we were a challenger brand when we began or in 2006 or 2012. What matters is that we are still a challenger brand and exciting them now.
“A lot of people think we are three or five times as big as we really are. And ultimately, that three to five times level is where we believe we can get to in time. We are niche, and we’ll always be niche, but we believe we can be bigger. And travel retail has a role to play in us becoming bigger over time. It has a role to play in terms of volume and as a way of telling our story.
“So we are aiming for growth and that is about growing our tribe of enthusiasts. And if we can bring a new dimension with The Travelling Circus, one that introduces our tribe to travel retail, it can be very exciting.” ✈
The whisky maker’s viewWhisky maker James Saxon says that creating The Travelling Circus has been one of his most fulfilling projects since joining Compass Box in 2019. He took over the lead role in making whisky this year from Founder John Glaser, but has been heavily involved in the process for some time. Orchard House, released in 2021 using the first whiskies laid down by Compass Box from new-make and now a bestseller, was a Saxon innovation. He believes The Travelling Circus can match that impact in the travel channel. “We know we are appealing to a diverse audience in travel retail so we didn’t want extremes, either too much smokiness or all malt. But that was really the only starting point. I think it will really excite fans who know our back catalogue.” He adds: “The balance of complexity and drinkability belies the bottling strength of 49%. We have stayed true to the initial sherry and smoke interplay we created but through the process added more Old Talisker for greater intensity. We had to work around what liquid was available but in my view have ended up with a rounder, softer, richer, more complex whisky than we first imagined.”  The creative process also includes defining and refining label design – as with other Compass Box creations, this will help tell the story of the liquid within. This is aided by the input of design agency Stranger and Stranger, a Compass Box partner since 2008. The agency began its work with the drinks sector in wines and has now extended to spirits, with Compass Box whiskies benefitting from its ideas that create dramatic on-shelf impact. Saxon says: “We had the brief to take the structure of the original The Circus label, so we wanted it to be recognisable, but for travel retail we added the idea of movement and machines with a Futurist art look. For me, the vibrancy of the label really is reflected in the liquid. “This is a very important part of bringing the whole product to life. When it comes to developing the liquid we make sure that everything is reflecting the core idea. “With the packaging, and with the overall value proposition, it is really going to catch the eye, and is going to bring people into the brand and show every side of who we are.” As a whisky maker rather than a distiller, Compass Box relies on supply from both major brand houses and smaller independents, and Saxon says it will continue to work with both. “It’s about flavour in the end. We work closely with the big players but we can also be a vehicle for emerging distilleries. “Ultimately we see our role as building the profile of blends. Many of the classic distilleries exist because they were built by being part of blends, even if today they are recognised more and more as individual brands.” The next evolution of Compass Box whiskies will see further experimentation with flavour but maintain the power of story-telling from liquid to label. Saxon says: “We want to bring out deeper stories. Casks are rich territory for flavour inspiration. There is an opportunity in the interface between spirit and wood, perhaps stepping away from over-reliance on wood to something a little bit more fresh and spirit driven. Where Orchard House came from is somewhere that I am really, really excited to explore more.” |
