The good folks at Woodman Wines and Spirits invited us to a tasting a while back to try a line-up of AnCnoc bottles available at the LCBO. After the event, we had the opportunity to share the whisky with a few of our members to pull together some group reviews. AnCnoc is produced at a small distillery in the Highlands called Knockdhu, and is owned … Continue reading AnCnoc Line-up Group Review
For our 2nd event of the year, we went with an “oddballs” line-up of young Signatory Vintages bottlings. The pictures below all look the same, but be sure to click on them to see the variety of whisky we drank, and stay tuned for the reviews which will be posted here! Continue reading Oddballs 2019 – Signatory Vintages
Lately I’ve been enjoying wild ales. For those not in the know, a wild ale is a beer that has used yeast or bacteria in addition to Saccharomyces cerevisiae for fermentation. It’s recently caught on in the US, with Lambics using the method for centuries now. So, when I was invited to try Glenmorangie’s newest release, which used their own strain of wild yeast, I … Continue reading Glenmorangie Allta – Exploring Wild Yeast
When one says The Balvenie, there’s one of two reactions: Either you enjoy the floral, sometimes fruity Speyside, or you pass. I am of the first group, so when I was invited (in addition to other members of the Toronto Whisky Society) to a Balvenie tasting at The Caledonian, of course, I cleared my schedule. Heck, I may have gone so fast that I cleared … Continue reading A night of Balvenie
2018 was a fantastic year for the Toronto Whisky Society (TWS), between hosting a number of wonderful tastings, visiting distilleries, reviewing whiskies, and of course all the great social events with members. It would be a waste to have all these great whisky lovers and not ask them for their whiskies of the year! Read below to see what whiskies were the highlights for a … Continue reading Toronto Whisky Society’s Whiskies of the Year 2018
As is tradition, TWS held our AGM in November, while sharing with our members the bottles received from distilleries throughout 2018. The night was a big success and at the end of it all, we sent everyone home with the remainder of the bottles! Continue reading 2018 AGM and Heels Party
GlenDronach bottles and sells my favourite whisky. As much as I like peat, a well-aged sherry single malt just does it for me (Editor’s Note: Yes, we know that prior to 2002 GlenDronach was peated, but I think DistillAsian means very peated whisky here). So the first thing I want to do when visiting Scotland is hit up the GlenDronach Distillery. It’s not as hard … Continue reading GlenDronach Distillery Tour
I signed up for the last available Distillers Wares tour first thing Sunday morning. However two days before that I found myself driving right past the visitor parking lot and parking right outside of the of the Mash House after the distillery had closed to the public for the day. An acquaintance was able to get my wife and I a private tour of the … Continue reading Laphroaig Distillers Wares
My wife and I rushed through a lunch at a small bar in Port Askaig in order to make it to the 2 pm Cask Strength Experience at Caol Ila. Funny story: Turns out we didn’t need to rush that much and could have had a heartier lunch because we were literally 5 minutes away. Well funny to me at least. I had been drinking. … Continue reading Caol Ila Distillery Tour
All the rumours are true: Bunnahabhain feels like the most remote and difficult to get to of all the distilleries on Islay. The final stretch is spent driving a long way down a nondescript single lane road. What they don’t tell you is that the Bunnahabhain Distillery complex looks like something out of a nuclear fallout movie, with seemingly old and rundown industrial buildings. Any … Continue reading Bunnahabhain Warehouse 9 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
My wife was kind enough to indulge my whisky obsession and not veto my idea to make the trip to Islay, aka Whisky Mecca, during our trip to Scotland. She said that I could go to as many distilleries as I could fit into three days on Islay. Well, the joke is on her because the answer to that question is 7 in what turned … Continue reading Lagavulin Warehouse Demonstration
Toronto Whisky Society 