Event Recap: Macallan & Highland Park tasting with Cameron Millar

We recently had an event with Cameron Millar, the brand ambassador for Edrington in Eastern Canada and tasted some fantastic drams. We both brought a few bottles we had gathered, leading to a great tasting including a number of limited editions and since delisted bottlings including: The Naked Grouse The Macallan Edition No. 2 The Macallan Edition No. 3 The Macallan Classic Cut Highland Park … Continue reading Event Recap: Macallan & Highland Park tasting with Cameron Millar

Bryan Vanderkruk21/06/20181 Comment

Event Recap

Laphroaig / Bowmore Tasting – Event Recap

On April 18, we had a tasting event with Matt Jones (@whisky_chef on instagram/twitter), the Beam-Suntory brand ambassador for the company’s Scotch and worldwhisky portfolios. Matt brought us a number of expressions from both of these Islay distilleries and regaled us with tales from that beautiful island, and the people who live and work there. He also brought some great swag for everyone to take … Continue reading Laphroaig / Bowmore Tasting – Event Recap

Bryan Vanderkruk18/04/201818/04/20181 Comment

Event Recap, Review

Lunch & Tasting with Malcolm Waring of Pulteney Distillery & Woodman Spirits

Back in November, the Toronto Whisky Society was invited to an event with International Beverage Holdings and Woodman Spirits, held at the Royal Canadian Military Institute, and TOModera and I were the privileged pair who got to attend. In case you don’t know (and didn’t follow those links), International Beverage Holdings is a company that owns many alcoholic beverage brands and manufacturers, including 5 distilleries … Continue reading Lunch & Tasting with Malcolm Waring of Pulteney Distillery & Woodman Spirits

Bryan Vanderkruk11/01/201830/01/2018Leave a comment

Review

Arran-mageddon: 12 reviews of Arran single casks, LEs and crazy finishes

So I’m at the precipice of hitting both 300 scotch reviews and 500 total whisky reviews on reddit and plotted out my path to those milestones. Inspired by /u/tomodera‘s recent Arran-pocalypse posts (Part 1, Part 2), I decided to do a smaller multi of the Arran drams I haven’t posted here in the past. It’s kind of like the B-movie version of his post… it’s Piranha … Continue reading Arran-mageddon: 12 reviews of Arran single casks, LEs and crazy finishes

Bryan Vanderkruk14/07/20171 Comment

Distillery Spotlight, Review

Bryan’s Scotland Trip Part 4 – Bruichladdich

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

Bryan Vanderkruk28/06/201631/12/20162 Comments

Distillery Spotlight, Review

Bryan’s Trip to Scotland Part 3 – Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Lagavulin

The trip to Islay was probably the highlight of my 2+ weeks in Europe. Being able to see the distilleries I’ve been reading about and tasting drams from for years was amazing. This post covers our first day of distillery visits, and a bunch of pictures from our walk down the road from Port Ellen to Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg. At Laphroaig, we did a … Continue reading Bryan’s Trip to Scotland Part 3 – Laphroaig, Ardbeg, Lagavulin

Bryan Vanderkruk27/06/201631/12/20163 Comments

Distillery Spotlight, Review

Bryan’s Scotland Trip Part 2 – Arran

I recently got back from a few weeks in Europe including a week in Scotland, and managed to visit Edinburgh, Glasgow, Arran and Islay. This post covers some drams consumed at the Arran Distillery, as well as some pictures from the island (the castle picture is the view from our B&B window!) Full disclosure, i came down with a bad cold the day we visited … Continue reading Bryan’s Scotland Trip Part 2 – Arran

Bryan Vanderkruk26/06/201631/12/20163 Comments

Review

Bryan’s Scotland Trip Part 1 – Edinburgh

I recently got back from a few weeks in Europe including a week in Scotland, and managed to visit Edinburgh, Glasgow, Arran and Islay. The trip was amazing and included visits to the Royal Mile, Cadenhead’s, a bunch of bottle shops, climbing Arthur’s Seat, an amazing G&T at the Sheep’s Heid Inn and a ton of other stuff. This post covers some samples/drams consumed in … Continue reading Bryan’s Scotland Trip Part 1 – Edinburgh

Bryan Vanderkruk25/06/201631/12/20162 Comments

Review

Pig’s Nose

It’s time to start finishing up the Beginner’s list, and other than not being able to obtain a dram of Glenfarclas 12 to save my life (It’s my sad white whale… like a White Mackeral), it’s time to do the ones I can find, and that means more blends. Because we have to do Blends. They account for over 90% of the whisky sold in… Continue reading Pig’s Nose