Year: 2017

Review

Macallan 12 year comparison and reviews (Sherry Cask, Fine Oak, & Double Cask)

________________________________________________________________________________ Macallan 12 (Sherry Cask), 43% ABV, $55 USD Nose: Very bold sherry, raisins, cranberries, subtle vanilla, and that unmistakable Macallan oakiness. Taste: Heavy sherry, dates, raisins, chocolate fudge, very nice underlying spiciness, and a slight bitter ginger. Finish: Medium-Long, well balanced, with those awesome Macallan oak tannins. Good mouth-feel and viscosity. Thoughts: I absolutely love this expression! In my opinion it’s the benchmark for … Continue reading Macallan 12 year comparison and reviews (Sherry Cask, Fine Oak, & Double Cask)

Unknown's avatarjeremy5 Comments
Review

Some NDP Bourbon Reviews

My wife and I recently had a great weekend in Windsor visiting the Hiram Walker Distillery, Canadian Club Brand Centre, Wolfhead Distillery and just hanging out with good company! We spent the weekend with some friends and he has a fantastic, growing collection of whiskies that he picks up in his business travels. Our weekend also involved a lot of great food including  flaming cheese at Santorini’s … Continue reading Some NDP Bourbon Reviews

Unknown's avatarBryan Vanderkruk2 Comments
Whisky Musing

Best Scotch Whiskies Under $100 At LCBO

2023 UPDATES UNDER EACH ENTRY BELOW Sadly very few solid buys under $100 anymore in 2023. Some new replacement suggestions below. After seeing a wonderful post by the Scotch Club YEG  a couple of the members of TWS started debating what the best scotch options were at the LCBO (the options available at $80 sadly could not justify a list here). Click here to see … Continue reading Best Scotch Whiskies Under $100 At LCBO

Unknown's avatarTorontoWhiskySociety7 Comments
Distillery Spotlight, Review

Wolfhead Distillery [Visit & Review]

Timberwolf Forest Products isn’t exactly a name that brings whisky to mind, but the company has been integrally involved in the whisky industry, handling the in/out processing of barrels for Hiram Walker – the largest distillery in North America – for years, as well as a small third party bottling operation for small batch runs of spirits. So it wasn’t as big a leap as one … Continue reading Wolfhead Distillery [Visit & Review]

Unknown's avatarBryan Vanderkruk2 Comments
Distillery Spotlight, Review

Pre-shutdown visit to the Canadian Club Brand Centre & a couple of reviews

Last weekend I went to Windsor, spent some time with friends drinking bourbon and scotch, visiting the Hiram Walker Distillery and Wolfhead Distillery, and also stopped in to the Canadian Club Brand Centre, which shut down public tours as of March 31st. The property is actually owned by Pernod-Ricard, and I guess Beam Suntory decided to stop paying money to its competitor, despite the historical value of … Continue reading Pre-shutdown visit to the Canadian Club Brand Centre & a couple of reviews

Unknown's avatarBryan Vanderkruk3 Comments
Distillery Spotlight, Event Recap

TWS visits Hiram Walker Distillery – Part 3

In Part 1, we covered grain, mashing and fermenting. In Part 2, we covered distillation, QA, barrelling and aging. Now we’re going to look at the final few steps in the whisky making process, our own attempt to do Don’s job of blending, and a trip into the Whisky Archives. Blending This step is where Don’s creative muscles are exercised. Unlike a single malt scotch, … Continue reading TWS visits Hiram Walker Distillery – Part 3

Unknown's avatarTorontoWhiskySociety7 Comments
Distillery Spotlight, Event Recap

TWS visits Hiram Walker Distillery – Part 2

In Part 1 of the Toronto Whisky Society’s visit to the Hiram Walker Distillery we covered how they handle their grain, the mashing process and fermenting process. Next we move on to: Distillation Distillation is essentially selective evaporation to concentrate a substance and remove unwanted portions. In the spirits world, there are two types of stills: Continuous or column stills, and pot stills. At Hiram … Continue reading TWS visits Hiram Walker Distillery – Part 2

Unknown's avatarTorontoWhiskySociety4 Comments
Distillery Spotlight, Event Recap

TWS visits Hiram Walker Distillery – Part 1

On March 24th, a few founding members of the Toronto Whisky Society were given the opportunity to tour the Hiram Walker Distillery and we want to share that experience with you in a few posts over the next few days. For any of you who don’t know, the distillery was built in 1858 by Hiram Walker, an American businessman who helped grow Canadian whisky to … Continue reading TWS visits Hiram Walker Distillery – Part 1

Unknown's avatarTorontoWhiskySociety8 Comments
Review

Two-dram Tuesday: Kilchoman Coull Point & Kilchoman 5 Single Cask Bourbon

Ok , now I’m really stretching for those alliterations. Today I’m going to cover 2 Kilchoman drams. The first I got as a prize in our Toronto Whisky Society high proof bourbon tasting for getting I think 1 right or something? We weren’t very good at guessing. Kilchoman Coull Point – 46% Appearance: gloriously uncoloured with thick, sexy legs Nose: some light peat up front, … Continue reading Two-dram Tuesday: Kilchoman Coull Point & Kilchoman 5 Single Cask Bourbon

Unknown's avatarBryan Vanderkruk1 Comment
Distillery Spotlight, Review

Five & 20 Spirits [Distillery visit & Reviews]

My wife and I were heading down to a town near Pittsburgh for a family event, so naturally I looked up any distilleries that may be along the way. I came across Five & 20 Spirits & Brewing, which is just off the I-90 on the far Western edge of NY state, and so we stopped in to try their rye and bourbon. Turns out, … Continue reading Five & 20 Spirits [Distillery visit & Reviews]

Unknown's avatarBryan Vanderkruk5 Comments
Distillery Spotlight, Review

Wigle Whiskey [Distillery Visit & Reviews]

Was visiting family down near Pittsburgh for a weekend and decided to check out the city, as I’d never been before. In the Strip district we came across the Wigle Distillery. We went in and they were selling flights, so I decided to try this “most awarded craft distillery”‘s offerings (and see if it’s most awarded because of quality, or because they enter the most … Continue reading Wigle Whiskey [Distillery Visit & Reviews]

Unknown's avatarBryan Vanderkruk2 Comments
Review

Toronto Whisky Society – St. Patrick’s Day Reviews

It’s that time of year again. St. Patrick’s Day is upon us and from now through the weekend people will be donning green attire, chugging green beer and chasing leprechauns, or something like that. As enjoyable as that is allow me to suggest one change in these annual festivities: ditch the green beer and have a glass or two of an Irish whiskey instead. If you find yourself wondering which of … Continue reading Toronto Whisky Society – St. Patrick’s Day Reviews

Unknown's avatarboyd86Leave a comment