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
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
In March, we had a tasting event with Jamie Johnson (@bourbonthing), the Balvenie Brand Ambassador for Canada. Jamie blew everyone’s expectations out of the water, bringing us 9 different expressions to try, including some unicorn bottles, as well as new make and barrel-seasoning rum! The drams were tasted were: Balvenie 12 Doublewood Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask Balvenie 17 Doublewood Balvenie 21 Portwood Balvenie 12 Single … Continue reading Balvenie 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
On a recent trip to Nova Scotia, my wife and I drove the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton and made a stop at the Glenora Distillery for a tour and tasting. I write in detail about the distillery and its history here, and have included this post to cover the reviews we did of the drams we tasted. Previously reviewed Glen Breton bottlings can be … Continue reading Glenora Distillery Multi-Review
When most people think of Canadian whisky, their minds go to blends or rye (whether the whisky contains any rye spirit or not). Rarely do people associate Canada with single malts, although there are a number of distilleries producing them today with the craft distilling boom hitting the Great White North. But before that boom, while brown spirits were giving way to white spirits in … Continue reading Distillery Spotlight: Glenora Distillery, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia
Halifax has become a hotbed for breweries, and now also has two distilleries operating in the city. We had a chance to visit both of them, and the write-up of the brand new Compass Distillers was previously posted here. The Halifax Distilling Company is the other and actually finds its roots on Prince Edward Island as the Prince Edward Distillery started by Julie Shore, a … Continue reading Distillery Spotlight: Halifax Distilling Company, Halifax, NS
Hey, so sometimes my numbers screw up. And by sometimes, I mean a lot. Seriously, my numbers should be fine. As such, I reviewed BenRiach 22 1994 Peated Ex-Tokaji (Cask 4004) as what I thought was right before the 750th, and then… well I did some mysteries, I did what I thought, etc. None the less, I shouldn’t consider this a bad thing. Let’s be honest, we… Continue reading BenRiach 22 1994 Peated Ex-Tokaji (Cask 4004)
This is the fourth and final category in our TWS Whisky Awards: Cask Strength Canadian Whiskies. In our previous three parts, we covered 1. under aged & non-whiskies; 2. Canadian Single Malts; and 3. Canadian Whiskies. There were only two bottles in this category, and you’ll find the notes and rankings below, along with a wrap-up of the series. Black Fox Spirits Wheat Spirit Cask Strength … Continue reading TWS Whisky Awards 2017: Cask Strength Canadian Whiskies & Wrap-up
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
Toronto Whisky Society 