Head to head · unusually close flavour match
Compass Box Artist Blend vs Starward Nova
No flavour axis separates these two, so the choice is price and occasion.
Compiled by WhiskeyCask Editorial · Last verified 2026-07-30
Specifications side by side
| Compass Box Artist Blend | Starward Nova | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Blended scotch | World whisky |
| Origin | Scotland | Victoria, Australia |
| Age | No age statement | No age statement |
| Strength | 43% ABV | 41% ABV |
| Cask | First-fill ex-bourbon barrel, custom medium-toast French oak, re-vatted Palo Cortado sherry-seasoned butt | Australian red wine barrel |
| Bottle | 700 ml | 700 ml |
| RRP observed | £37 | £55 |
| Per 10cl | £5.29 | £7.86 |
| Per litre of alcohol | £123 | £192 |
| Chill-filtered | No | Not stated |
What separates them
Different countries: Compass Box Artist Blend from Scotland, Starward Nova from Victoria, Australia.
Compass Box Artist Blend is a blended scotch, Starward Nova a world whisky.
Neither carries an age statement, so neither discloses its youngest spirit.
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, Starward Nova in australian red wine barrel.
Chill filtration: Compass Box Artist Blend is not, Starward Nova does not say.
Colour: Compass Box Artist Blend natural colour, Starward Nova silent.
What the price buys
Starward Nova 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 £192.
Across the 32 bottles we can cost this way, Compass Box Artist Blend is 10th cheapest and Starward Nova 26th cheapest.
Flavour, compared
View as table
| Axis | Compass Box Artist Blend | Starward Nova |
|---|---|---|
| Peaty | 2 | 0 |
| Sweet | 6 | 6 |
| Fruity | 7 | 8 |
| Spicy | 5 | 5 |
| Woody | 5 | 5 |
| Sherried | 4 | 6 |
| Cereal | 6 | 5 |
| Oily | 6 | 7 |
No axis reaches the 3-point gap we call meaningful. Widest is peaty, 2 against 0.
Identical on sweet, 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 →Starward Nova
Red berries and chocolate from full red-wine-cask maturation. Unlike anything Scottish.
Fully matured in red wine barrels, not finished in them — and Starward sources the barrels 'within hours of being emptied', wet-filling new spirit while residual wine is still present. Grape varieties are not disclosed.
Full record →No overlap in what we list them for: Compass Box Artist Blend for value at 43%, transparency and first blended scotch, Starward Nova for something different and wine drinkers.
Where these specifications come from
Producer and retailer pages for Compass Box Artist Blend and Starward Nova: compassboxwhisky.com, cdn.shopify.com, starward.com.au. Figures are what those pages published when we last checked them, on 2026-07-30.