John Glaser: Creating Scotch Whisky for the 21st Century.

American ex-pat John Glaser started Compass Box Whisky Company from the kitchen of his west London home in 2000. He started his career on a path to become a winemaker, before re-routing himself through the corporate world, falling in love with whisky, and ending up as marketing director for a very large Scotch whisky brand based in London.

Glaser established Compass Box out of a desire to make great Scotch whisky more approachable and relevant to more people: evolving traditional whiskymaking, innovating, inspiring, discovering, all in the name of making whisky better, without compromise.

Part whisky negociant, part perfume-maker in approach, John first creates every whisky in his head, as an idea, a style he wants to bring to life. He then seeks out and hand-selects the individual casks to make it happen. He typically uses three or four different distillery whiskies in his recipes; an approach that allows him to showcase the distinct character of particular whiskies, while skilfully complementing their personalities.

Whisky blending is misunderstood by many people; one of John's aims is to show that blending is a vital and time-honoured skill in the business of whiskymaking, and that there is an art to doing it well.