Head to head · unusually close flavour match
Compass Box Artist Blend vs Redbreast 12 Year Old
No flavour axis separates them, so the difference on record is disclosure: Redbreast 12 Year Old 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 | Redbreast 12 Year Old | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blended scotch | Single pot still |
| Origin | Scotland | Ireland |
| 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 | Ex-bourbon, Oloroso sherry |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £37 | £55 |
| Per 10cl | £5.29 | £7.86 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £123 | £196 |
| Chill-filtered | No | Not stated |
What separates them
Different countries: Compass Box Artist Blend from Scotland, Redbreast 12 Year Old from Ireland.
Compass Box Artist Blend is a blended scotch, Redbreast 12 Year Old a single pot still.
Redbreast 12 Year Old 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, Redbreast 12 Year Old in ex-bourbon and oloroso sherry.
Chill filtration: Compass Box Artist Blend is not, Redbreast 12 Year Old does not say.
Colour: Compass Box Artist Blend natural colour, Redbreast 12 Year Old silent.
Redbreast 12 Year Old: specifications not yet producer-confirmed.
What the price buys
Redbreast 12 Year Old is £18 dearer a bottle than Compass Box Artist Blend.
Strength keeps that ordering: £123 a litre of pure alcohol for Compass Box Artist Blend against £196.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Compass Box Artist Blend is 10th cheapest and Redbreast 12 Year Old 27th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Compass Box Artist Blend | Redbreast 12 Year Old |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 2 | 0 |
| Sweet | 6 | 6 |
| Fruity | 7 | 7 |
| Spicy | 5 | 5 |
| Woody | 5 | 5 |
| Sherried | 4 | 6 |
| Cereal | 6 | 7 |
| Oily | 6 | 7 |
No axis reaches the 3-point gap we call meaningful. Widest is peaty, 2 against 0.
Identical on sweet, fruity, spicy and woody.
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 →Redbreast 12 Year Old
Thick, oily pot-still spice with sherried fruit. The style Ireland nearly lost.
Single pot still requires a mash of both malted and unmalted barley — an Irish style that came close to extinction.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Compass Box Artist Blend for value at 43%, transparency and first blended scotch, Redbreast 12 Year Old for something different and after dinner.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Compass Box Artist Blend and Redbreast 12 Year Old: compassboxwhisky.com, cdn.shopify.com, redbreastwhiskey.com. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.