Toronto Whisky Society November 2016 tasting meet-up

The Toronto Whisky Society had another meetup this weekend, and had a number of fantastic bottles to sample from. We had 9 people out, including many of our contributors from here: Devoz, TOModera, Boyd86, Throzen, Xile_, DistillAsian, Kyle Butler, and Bryan Vanderkruk with special guest CharlesDobson from Alberta.

We had a line-up of 9 bottles and sampled, dissected and discussed each one. The reviews will be posted by each of the users separately, but here’s the line-up and thoughts on each one:

Expression	ABV	General thoughts
Gretzky’s Red Cask	40	Not a bad entry level Canadian spirit, should have been bottled at 99 proof (duh) and aged longer
Braeval 1995 G&M Connoisseur’s Choice	46	An inoffensive salty dram with a ton of fruit flavor.
Limerick Slaney 1991 23yr Irish	48.3	One of the highlights of the night, wouldn’t peg it as an Irish if tasting blind. Tons of flavor and depth
Benriach 1984 27yr single Cask	56.1	Possibly the best expression of ex-bourbon casks some of us had ever had. Absolutely delicious
Arran 19yr SMWS 121.77	53.4	A good look at pure Arran spirit out of ex-bourbon casks.. Reminded us how much we love Arran when it comes from some other type of cask.
Heaven Hill 11 Cadenhead’s	61.2	Another one that topped the list for the evening, this bourbon was balls to the wall, in your face delicious.
Glendronach 10yr 2002	54.1	Proof that the post-mothball Glendro can stand up to some of the best sherried whiskies out there.
Tamdhu 1995 17yr Adelphi	58.8	Lighter than we expected with a lot of salt, malt and fruit
Caol Ila 16yr SMWS 53.234	64.1	While most were too intoxicated to get much detail out of this, it was a beautifully smoky, meaty Islay to finish off the night.