The second category in this year’s TWS Whisky Awards are the Single Grains, which include ryes, wheat, and other prairie grains. This year we received 8 bottles for this category, and evaluated them in the following random order: The Lineup: Stalk & Barrel 100% Rye: A 3 year old 100% Ontario rye whisky bottled at 46% with no colour or chill filtration. Black Fox Distillery … Continue reading 2019 TWS Whisky Awards: Canadian Single Grains
Thanks to?@scotchguy.to?for sharing a dram of this with me. Bit of confusion on this one. I was poured it and it was labelled as 13 years, but I can’t find that and can find a 14 year. So please excuse the confusion, as the alcohol percentage lines up. Potter’s Distillery was out in Langley British Columbia, established in 1958 and sold liqueurs, slowly expanding into… Continue reading Potter’s 14 1985 Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection
Thanks to Tim W. for the sample. And thanks to /u/xreekinghavocx for the image. For those who missed it (and frankly that’s okay) each year, around my birthday, I review what samples I have from 1982. Because that’s when I was born. Otherwise, it’d be a weird coincidence. After taking a break due to social commitments I was told “not to be drunk at” and “again” or… Continue reading Cameronbridge SMWS G4.13 “Marvellous multifaceted”
Each year, during December, I break into any whiskies I have from 1982. Why? Because that’s when I ended up being born. This year there are four, and I’m quite excited because a) it’s getting harder to find the already hard-to-find whiskies from this year. If you’re wondering why, look up when distilleries started shutting down in the 80s (because the 80s sucked) Birthday Dram… Continue reading Carsebridge 34 1982 Signatory Cask Strength Collection
Thanks to a good friend for sharing these drams! Two distilleries from Scotland that I’ve never had a whisky from in one tasting? What is it, my birthday? Nah, if it was my birthday the grain distillery option would be over 30 years old. Anything less is iffy at my age, to be honest. Invergordon, for those of you like me who was in the… Continue reading Invergordon 24 1993 The Good Spirits Co.
Thanks to a friend of mine for sharing this sample! Loch Lomond brings up a lot of thoughts. First off: Who? So Loch Lomond is a dual whisky distillery in the Highland region. They make both grain and malt whisky, and as of 1971, the last of a whole bunch who used to probably not called “The Two Faces” or something silly like that. They… Continue reading Loch Lomond Single Grain
Thanks to /u/twiddleDD for the sample Introducing a new series that I’m calling “Scotch Malts, Wife’s Selection”, in which my wife goes through my backlog of SMWS samples that I haven’t reviewed yet, pours them blind, and then I review it blind. Girvan represents an interesting whisky for me. First off, it’s a single grain whisky. I’ve always enjoyed single grain whiskies because of the age statements required… Continue reading Girvan SMWS G7.10 “The Texan tea party”
Last night I was invited, as part of the Toronto Whisky Society, to a launch event for Canadian Club 40. It was completely free. I disclose this to be clear. Also, as a note, prior to the tasting I had a maple bacon old fashioned. In order to mitigate any odd flavours coming in, I made sure to talk to other whisky geeks after the tasting, and… Continue reading Canadian Club 40
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
So I’m at the Irish Whiskey Museum. That’s a different review for a different day. Suffice to say, the tour was great fun. As part of the tour, we tried 4 different Irish whiskies and then got to make our own blend. The grain we tried? Glendalough Double Barrel. Thus I was able to review Glendalough Double Barrel. All good, eh? I’ve reviewed the others… Continue reading Glendalough Double Barrel
So I’m in Temple Bar. Why am I there? Well first I should explain what Temple Bar is. You see, in Dublin, the Temple Bar district was the poor warehouse district. So what happened? The same thing that happens all the time. The Bohemians, or Hipsters, move in, and start making it a fun place. Anyone who has ever lived in a large city for… Continue reading Midleton Method and Madness Trio (Single Malt, Single Pot Still, Single Grain)
This post is a throwback to Forty Creek’s Whisky Weekend in 2014. I had long enjoyed Forty Creek as the better alternative to the Canadian whisky standards of Crown and CC. I’d bought a bunch of the limited editions in the past and figured why not check out the distillery and get one of the limited edition bottlings in person plus a signature? So I pre-ordered … Continue reading Forty Creek Deconstruction Tasting & Reviews
Toronto Whisky Society 