There are so many whisky clubs out there these days, and they take many different forms. Some have long histories and many chapters across the country who enjoy formal tastings with dinners. Others, like us, were millennial-founded and approach whisky from a very nerdy, inquisitive place, and that passion for trying new bottles leads to the pursuit of unique brands and bottlings.

The Park Whiskey Society is one such like-minded group whose passion (and location) enabled them to form an importing company to bring in unique brands and bottles themselves. We partnered with PWS imports for a tasting, led by @SingltMaltMack, their Ontario representative.

The turnout for this one was slightly smaller than usual (but oh well, that meant larger pours!), but the quality was there both in the bottles and in the room!

We kicked off with a Tomintoul 15yr single cask from Dram Mor. We held a Tomintoul tasting in 2020, so the group was very familiar with this spirit. This single cask was a bigger beast with a ton of character.

Next up was the Bimber single malt, an English malt from London that has been gaining acclaim overseas. This is their Canadian edition and it was a belter!

Third was the Taconic Mizunara oaked bourbon. at 107 proof, this one packed punch and the Mizunara finish really shone through.

And finally we broke the peat barrier with the Two Stacks Smoke & Mirrors Irish Whiskey, which is a blend of peated irish malt and stout-cask-aged malt! It was completely unique and unlike really any other Irish we had tasted before. It isn’t often that an irish steals the show at our events, but this one certainly did and was the overall favourite of the group!

And we finished with a blended malt scotch which was much more peated than we expected! Very tasty and a very affordable bottle too.

Most of these are likely still around in Alberta, so give them a shot and look for more from these brands – each is selected and imported by a bunch of whisky nerds like you and me and all of these folks!