Back in the day, we did a higher end event every year, but that fell to the wayside a bit during COVID. we’ve revisited this old favourite with a line-up of bottles all 20+ years old. First off was a Braeval / Braes of Glenlivet 32yr old from Murray McDavid finished in Margaux casks. Delicious palate opener and very refined spirit! Second was another Murray … Continue reading High End Vintages
We brought back an old favourite theme for 2024 – Oddballs! Devon picks out some weird/unique/unusual bottlings and we drink them blind and try to guess what they are. This year had some really interesting ones, which are listed in order that we tasted them (and for those who couldn’t come in person and got samples, this is the order 1-5, avoid if you don’t … Continue reading Oddballs 2024
We held our AGM as usual in December 2023 and it was a great one, highlighted by amazing food (including a brisket smoked by member Sheps and Canada goose jerky hunted, prepared and cured by founding member and re-elected exec member Bryan. In addition to great food, we had some great whisky, including the leftovers from the 2023 TWS Canadian Single Malt awards, and a … Continue reading 2023 TWS AGM
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
This whisky has been staring me in the face behind the bar at my pub for ages, and I’ve finally gone and tried it. There’s more to this that meets the eye. The distillery that’s known today as Clynelish was built in 1967, right next door to the original Clynelish distillery which was renamed “Brora”. Bizarrely, up until the mid-70s, it was common practice for … Continue reading [Review] Clynelish 12 Gordon & MacPhail “Ainslie & Heilbron” (bottled ~1984)
Glenburgie is rapidly becoming one of my very favourite Speyside distilleries. It seems to produce those tropical fruit notes that I go crazy for with consistency, provided it’s had enough time in the cask. The 21 years of age on this distillery-label bottling from Gordon & MacPhail should be enough to get those flavours going. Nose: Ehhhh, there’s some stale sulfur here, and mustiness like … Continue reading [Review] Glenburgie 21 Gordon & MacPhail Distillery Label
This is my first 50-year-old whisky, breaking my previous oldest-whisky record by a solid decade. It’s a blended scotch, bottled by the appropriately-named Blended Whisky Company in 2017. I couldn’t find any info on the composition of this blend, but no matter. Let’s give it a try! Nose: Very mellow. Musty notes of old leather and old furniture. Some vanilla buttercream and that particular old-grain … Continue reading [Review] The Half Century Blend 50-year-old Blended Scotch Whisky
Despite a relatively small sample size, Imperial has become one of my very favourite Speyside distilleries. It delivers the tropical and waxy goods regularly, and despite closing in 1998 it doesn’t (yet) have the same dead-distillery premium on it as many of the bigger names. This Signatory bottling from 1976 will be the oldest vintage Imperial I’ve ever tried. Colour: Straw. Nose: Sweet and fatty. … Continue reading [Review] Imperial 19 1976 Signatory Vintage
Our final event of each year is our Annual General Meeting & Heels Party. Yes, we had another heels party earlier in the year, but since we had to do them virtually the prior 2 years, we figured why not make up for lost time! The turnout was amazing and we got through some important business, including constitutional amendments, and the election of three new … Continue reading 2022 AGM & Heels Party
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 … Continue reading Park Whisky Society X Toronto Whisky Society tasting
Our AGM in 2021 was virtual once again due to COVID and whichever wave was hitting us at that time. Aside from the usual business, we did a pair of mystery drams like in 2020 and had the group guess on a variety of attributes: Out of a total possible points of 8 (4Qs x 2 samples), our big winner was Adam who got 6pts, … Continue reading AGM & Social 2021
While Covid changed a lot of things, one thing it didn’t change was our annual Oddballs tradition! in 2021, we had a great Oddballs line-up tasted over Zoom including the following drams, all of which were single cask and cask strength Opinions and favourites were mixed, but everyone agreed there were some massive surprises in the line-up, with the speyside’s sulphury palate being the most … Continue reading Oddballs 2021
Toronto Whisky Society 