We’re going to be honest here… when we first saw the J.P. Wiser’s Alumni Series get released, we assumed it was simply a marketing gimmick that would in all likelihood take existing whiskies and re-brand then with famous players’ names to up-sell the hockey fan market. We even told the folks at Corby this and that we didn’t feel these would appeal to the whisky … Continue reading J.P. Wiser’s NHL Alumni Series
Thanks to /u/muaddib99 for this sample. More so than normal, I have to thank him quite a bit. You see, recently as part of the Toronto Whisky Society, he was sent down to Windsor. And not for the usual punitive reasons one goes to Windsor. No, this was part of celebrating the launch of Wiser’s grand opening of the brand centre. And joking aside, as someone who lived… Continue reading J.P. Wiser’s Custom Blend by Bryan Vanderkruk
We’ve written a few times about Corby’s recently released Northern Border Collection here, and that’s for a couple of reasons: It’s damn good whisky that is a bit of a paradigm shift for Canadian whisky Corby has been really good about reaching out to whisky lovers and groups like ours, letting us taste it and tell its story. So since by now you’ve heard it … Continue reading TWS Northern Border Collection Tasting
In this, the third part of our TWS Whisky Awards, we look at some whiskies that fall within the more classical Canadian Whisky category. In Part 1, we looked at some under-aged spirits and non-whiskies, and in Part 2 we evaluated some Canadian Single Malts. Here are the bottles, descriptions, tasting notes and rankings of the five Canadian Whiskies we evaluated: Last Mountain 100% Wheat … Continue reading TWS Whisky Awards 2017: Canadian Whiskies
As you’ll have seen from past group reviews and our trip to Hiram Walker last month (Pt1, Pt2, Pt3), we’re pretty big fans of what Dr. Don Livermore and the team at Corby/Pernod-Ricard are doing in the Canadian whisky category. From their Union 52 blend that includes some 52yr old Highland Scotch, to Last Barrels – a sour mash bourbon-style whisky, – to the use of virgin … Continue reading Exclusive Pre-Release Group Review: J.P. Wiser’s Dissertation
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
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
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
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
Reddit ate my review… and yes the glass is dirty, it’s been a rough 3 weeks. Hi all! I was at the LCBO, looking around, bemoaning the fact that I live in Ontario, and thus Scotch is very expensive, when I realized that I actually live in Canada and Rye is inexpensive (love the one you’re with and all that). So I picked up Pike… Continue reading Pike Creek 10 Year Double Barreled Port Finish
Toronto Whisky Society 