When I dig into a new drink idea, I typically try to work from the constructs of an ingredient. Today it was Mango.

No grand plan, the mango was ripe, it was in the fridge and it was calling for use. Second, I look to the spirit. I’ve recently moved so the “home bar” is not what it has been, but there are some gems. The Lost Blend by Compass Box is as complex as it is rare and was also calling.

Like most Compass Box blends, it is bold, and interesting. If you are to mix it, you need to match that complexity at the very least. Below is the what this particular “Lost Blend” entails.

Single malt whisky (of a certain age) from the Clynelish distillery, and a small cache of extraordinary whisky from the Allt-A-Bhainne distillery, aged in American oak barrels and just a few years shy of two decades old, combined with malt whisky from the Caol Ila distillery. {From the Compass Box Website}

We could go down a wormhole on the intricacies of the compounds in these whiskies, but let’s instead keep this post to a light narrative. All Whisk(e)y, especially Scotch Whisky is full of weird and wonderful compounds from various stages of the Fermentation—->to Maturation process. When mixing drinks with Scotch, you need to keep these compounds in mind or you will not finish with a delicious product.

For this drink, I wanted to use something fruity, nutty, leathery, floral, and sweet. Don’t ask me why, cause the motivation was experimentation and it felt right. Compare the below to the above diagram and you can likely see where I was going with things.

Scotch and tropical fruits are a match made in heaven. Mix in the fun textural components of toasted Walnut Oil and the leathery Vegan Foamer and you start to experience something truly unique. Mango is for more than just your salads and fruit bowls, it holds up to the “peatiest” of whiskies but also matched the balance of the “sweetness” as well.

Here is the Lost Mango Walnut, the name is a work in progress.

Lost Mango Nut

60 ml Compass Box Lost Blend Whisky

30 mg Fresh Mango Flesh

20 ml House Elderflower Cordial

25 ml Fresh Lemon Juice

10 ml Toasted Walnut oil

6 drops Ms Betters Batch 42 Bitters

6 drops Ms Betters Vegan Botanical Foamer

All the kids in the shaker, 2 large cubes and a vigorous shake. Double Strained, delicately garnished

Lost Mango Nut | Why Scotch and Mango deserve each other.