Independent Scotch bottler Compass Box looks set to release a new expression - Art & Decadence that will see the use of a combination of Marsala, Sauternes and Madeira casks to create a tart, sweet and rich profile.

"What does "Decadence" mean to you? We love the chain of associations that lead to luxury, beauty and excess. It's highly fertile territory for art... and whisky.

Oscar Wilde wrote that "we live in an age when unnecessary things are our only necessities." The age in question was the late nineteenth century, when the Aesthetic Movement in the art world yearned for pure visual delight.

The Aesthetic Movement gave rise to the Decadent Movement, with artists layering influences from around the world. For those of a Decadent sensibility, more was always more. The unnecessary flourish became the most important thing of all - if something delighted you, that was the only justification required for its existence.

Art & Decadence is decked out to delight. We have taken glossily sweet grain whiskies and combined them with unpeated malt whiskies matured in American oak barrels, sherry-seasoned butts, and malt whisky finished in not one but three varieties of dessert wine cask. Like we said, more is more.

With the Decadent Movement, art was made for the sake of art; there were no ulterior motives. Similarly , a whisky like Art & Decadence may not be strictly a necessity - and that is the whole, glorious point."

More importantly, here's the breakdown of the whiskies used:

The new release is bottled at 49% ABV and is due to be bottled in August 2023.

Kanpai!

88 Bamboo Editorial Team