Compass Box: Peat Monster Arcana - 2020 Limited Edition Review

Hey everyone and welcome to Bourbon Bites, whiskey reviews with a gaming twist

I'm Clifton and today we're reviewing Peat Monster Arcana. So this is the latest limited edition Peat Monster release from Compass Box

and it's called Arcana which basically means secrets or mysteries. Which is ironic because Compass Box tends to be one of the most transparent independent bottlers

So on the box they use the term to refer to the secrets and mysteries of cask maturation

So it's not necessarily they're saying that what's in the bottle is a mystery. They're just saying there are a lot of mysteries behind whiskey making

And you gotta agree, that's a pretty solid point. Now this is partly aged in custom French oak casks

I think that's what sets it apart from the other releases of Peat Monster. It's non-chill filtered and released at 46% ABV or 92 proof

Now I do want to preface this by saying I am a bourbon guy, so I am reviewing this from a bourbon drinker's perspective

I'm not opposed to scotch, and I'm definitely not opposed to peated scotch. But I will say my tasting notes may be not the most, you know, professional or eloquent

So we'll see how this goes. So the three main components that make up this peat monster are Talisker Milton Duff and Ardbeg The bottle does say they had their Highland malt blend included but according to the website they accidentally left that out so hopefully someone didn lose their job over that but that seems like a pretty bad mistake But they said this stuff was so good

they didn't even realize that it wasn't in there, so I guess I'd forgive them that, as long as it's good, right? Now I have had the other Peat Monster release from Compass Box. I've actually done two

separate Compass Box streams, so if you missed them, I'll put them down in the description below

I've tasted some of their regular lineup of stuff and some of their other limited editions, so go

check those out. But I'm very, very excited to pick up this bottle, and I hope it holds up to

the Pete Monster name. Oh yeah, on the nose, this is my favorite kind of Pete. That's actually why

I bought this bottle. I'm a big fan of Talisker 10, so when I saw that almost 73% of this whiskey

is Talisker, I knew I had to pick it up. It's got that sea salt air kind of brininess that I

really, really enjoy on a scotch. That's actually one of the biggest things people are surprised

about, me being a bourbon drinker, but also liking peated scotches. I want my scotch to taste very

very different from bourbon. I don't want to scotch that's bourbon-y. I want scotch to be its

own category. I think peated scotches definitely do that, and I enjoy them for what they are. So

you won't typically find me with a glass of scotch in hand, but you know what? I do appreciate the

spirit, and I love giving my thoughts on it for you guys. But behind that peat on the nose, it

still has some sweetness It almost like a bright fruit sweetness behind that Definitely some kind of like honey or like a floral like even like a wildflower honey I think once you come to accept the peatiness you can find a lot more behind the nose And I think the same goes for

the palate. So let's go ahead and give it a try. Cheers, you guys. So the first initial shock is

peat. This is a peat monster, hence the name. But it's that really good, not iodine-y, it's more of

like a smoked meat kind of peat, which is typical of what I find in Ardbeg. There is some Ardbeg in

here. I did expect it to taste a little bit more like the Talisker tin that I'm so fond of, but I

still really do appreciate that kind of peat. So let's go in for a second sip to see if we can pull

out more flavors in this. Definitely leans into that honey sweetness that I got on it earlier

Not as floral. It's got that cereal kind of note that I typically find in scotch, but not necessarily

peated scotch. So I'm very intrigued to see that note showing up behind the peat. With that honey

it's almost like a honey nut Cheerios note and I really dig that. It's really

oily on the palate and I do think it drinks a little hotter than the proof would let on but for me someone who really appreciates a good cast strength

whiskey I really like that. I really think that this peatiness and the sweetness balance out really well with this release and you would hope so with

this being a hundred dollar MSRP like you wouldn want something that off balance Certain single malts you know to me it kind of leans one direction or the other but when you have a blend like this it really merges two beautiful things the peatedness and the sweetness of like a cereal like grain forward

whiskey. Putting them together really makes a really solid release, and I think this is a great

addition to the Peat Monster name. So, Peat Monster Arcana definitely gets my recommendation. It is a

little pricey. It's at $100, but if you know you're someone that likes sort of like the Ardbag or the

Talisker kind of Pete, this is definitely a great expression of it, and pretty much everything

Compass Box puts out is solid. I'm a big fan of the brand, and I'm so glad to have a chance to try

the newest Compass Box. So let me know if you guys have had this release. I haven't seen very

many reviews of it online, so I'm wondering if it's just now showing up here, at least in my area

Southern California. So thank you all so much for watching. If you're new here, I would love if you could subscribe. I do gaming videos over on Facebook Gaming too, so go check that out. And

of course, join our Discord. We have a lot of fun over there. But until next time, this has been

Bourbon Bites Whiskey Reviews with a gaming twist. I'm Clifton, and I'll see y'all next video. Cheers