Head to head · unusually close flavour match
Compass Box Artist Blend vs Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour
No flavour axis separates them, so the difference on record is disclosure: Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour states 12 years, Compass Box Artist Blend states no age.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Compass Box Artist Blend | Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blended scotch | Single malt |
| Origin | Scotland | Islands, Scotland |
| Age | No age statement | 12 years |
| Strength | 43% ABV | 40% ABV |
| Cask | First-fill ex-bourbon barrel, custom medium-toast French oak, re-vatted Palo Cortado sherry-seasoned butt | Sherry-seasoned American oak, ex-bourbon |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £37 | £42 |
| Per 10cl | £5.29 | £6.00 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £123 | £150 |
| Chill-filtered | No | Not stated |
What separates them
Both from Scotland.
Compass Box Artist Blend is a blended scotch, Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour a single malt.
Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour states 12 years; Compass Box Artist Blend states none.
Cask as each producer describes it: Compass Box Artist Blend in first-fill ex-bourbon barrel, custom medium-toast french oak and re-vatted palo cortado sherry-seasoned butt, Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour in sherry-seasoned american oak and ex-bourbon.
Chill filtration: Compass Box Artist Blend is not, Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour does not say.
Colour: Compass Box Artist Blend natural colour, Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour silent.
Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour is £5.00 dearer a bottle than Compass Box Artist Blend.
Strength keeps that ordering: £123 a litre of pure alcohol for Compass Box Artist Blend against £150.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Compass Box Artist Blend is 10th cheapest and Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour 19th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Compass Box Artist Blend | Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 2 | 4 |
| Sweet | 6 | 6 |
| Fruity | 7 | 5 |
| Spicy | 5 | 4 |
| Woody | 5 | 5 |
| Sherried | 4 | 5 |
| Cereal | 6 | 5 |
| Oily | 6 | 6 |
No axis reaches the 3-point gap we call meaningful. Widest is peaty, 2 against 4.
Identical on sweet, woody and oily.
Each bottle in its own right
Compass Box Artist Blend
Bright orchard fruit and cream with a dry, spiced finish. Proof that a blend can be interesting.
Compass Box publishes the complete recipe by percentage, which no large blender does: 45% Cameronbridge grain, 22% Linkwood, 10% Clynelish, 10% Balmenach, 8% a Highland malt blend in custom French oak, 5% Linkwood in a Palo Cortado butt. Component ages are the one thing conspicuously absent. Formerly sold as Great King Street Artist's Blend.
Full record →Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour
Heather smoke and honey in balance. The best-balanced malt at its price.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Compass Box Artist Blend for value at 43%, transparency and first blended scotch, Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour for all-rounder and bridge to peated whisky.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Compass Box Artist Blend and Highland Park 12 Year Old Viking Honour: compassboxwhisky.com, cdn.shopify.com, highlandparkwhisky.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.