In Feb 2024 we held a tasting with a brand we had long hoped to work with – Bruichladdich. Reed Pettit brought a few bottles and we acquired a Laddie 10 from the 90s, along with two experimental bottlings courtesy of a member of the club. The tasting was incredible, the stories and insights Reed shared were equally phenomenal and everyone had an amazing time. … Continue reading Bruichladdich Tasting
We don’t know if it’s general inflation or just increased demand (spoiler: it’s inflation), but it seems that every time you turn around, the price of whisky has increased. It’s remarkable how many bottles, including ones well loved and formerly reasonably priced, have become priced out of the “every day” category. Since the holidays are fast approaching, at a recent TWS event, we asked the … Continue reading TWS’s Holiday Gift Guide / Best Whiskies under $100 at the LCBO
2020 has been quite the year, and your Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus celebrations are likely to look a little different than normal, but that doesn’t mean you won’t be buying whisky for your friends and family! We’ve put together an updated 2020 Gift Guide to help you find the best options at the LCBO! WHISKY $61 AND UNDER Wild Turkey 101 – a great bourbon for $38 currently … Continue reading 2020 Holiday Whisky Gift Guide
(This distillery write-up was written by Toronto Whisky Society member Stephen Sheps. Another big thanks to him for sharing the experiences he had visiting Islay back in 2019!) Part 3 of my Islay Journey is a bit of out chronological order, but it was so good that it needed to be saved for last – Bruichladdich. I should probably preface this review with 2 caveats: … Continue reading Bruichladdich Distillery Review
So it’s the dawn on the first morning on Islay. Bowmore is lovely as could be as the sun begins to shine onto Loch Indaal, but I won’t be staying for too long in Bowmore this morning. A quick hour long bus ride from Islay High School takes us to the pier of Bruichladdich, just minutes away from our destination, and our first distillery tour … Continue reading Bruichladdich Warehouse Tasting
After Lagavulin, we ate a lovely lunch at the Islay Hotel, where we ended up getting seated beside and chatting with an Australian that had made the trip to Islay on his own. Happily full and ready to go, we were off on the 40-minute drive to Bruichladdich. As this was my wife’s first time driving on this trip, I was understandably nervous and sober … Continue reading Bruichladdich Warehouse Experience
Octomore 8.1, 59.3% ABV, 8 years old, $160 CAD. 100% first fill American oak from Buffalo Trace, Clemont Springs, Four Roses, Heaven Hill and Jack Daniels distilleries. Scottish barley. 167 PPM. 42,000 bottles produced. Nose: Lemon, a floral sweetness, black treacle, licorice, sweet straw, creamy peat, and a faint wood note. Taste: Grilled lemon, treacle, salt water, cantaloupe, floral. Finish: Very long, slightly drying, oak, … Continue reading Bruichladdich Octomore 8.1 & 8.3
Quick mention about letting whisky sit, oxidize, and open up before you drink it: You’ve heard about allowing whisky to breathe one minute in the glass for every year in the cask? (18 year old whisky; let it sit for 18 minutes). I HATE this rule! It simply just doesn’t apply to the majority of whisky. Especially when it’s peated, especially when it’s cask strength, … Continue reading Bruichladdich Octomore 6.1, 6.3, 7.1, & 7.3
2016 was a fantastic year for the members of the Toronto Whisky Society, for many reasons: We launched our website and social media presence after existing primarily on Reddit for the past few years We held a number of highly successful events in homes, at pubs and at distilleries We made connections with a ton of distilleries to set up future events, AMAs and tastings … Continue reading Toronto Whisky Society’s Whiskies of the Year 2016
The next day after a trip to Finlaggan, the ancient seat of the Lord of the Isles (which I highly recommend to anyone visiting Islay, it’s amazingly cool), we checked out Bruichladdich. After the experiences at the other 3, we expected to get 1-2 drams, explore the distillery a bit, and then head to Kilchoman. instead, after talking to the bartenders for a while, they decided … Continue reading Bryan’s Scotland Trip Part 4 – Bruichladdich
A bunch of guys from my church got together for a Robbie Burns scotch night that they’ve held for the past 5 years and I was lucky enough to join in the fun. Everybody brought a bottle and me and another guy put them in the order we felt would be best… avoiding the peat barrier as tomodera would say. I had 8-9 drams, but only … Continue reading Robbie Burns Night 2016
last night was the inaugural Toronto Whisky Society meet-up (not that we called ourselves that back then… more of a /r/canadawhisky subreddit meetup), and we had a big crowd out at the Feathers Pub in Toronto! had a great group come out around 8 and i think we stayed till 12:30ish. everyone had a bunch of drams and from what i could tell, a really good time! … Continue reading Toronto Whisky Society’s Inaugural Feather’s Night
Toronto Whisky Society 