Dear Lord, I miss the days of distillery visits and scooping up distillery exclusive releases. Lagavulin, in particular, has always had cool bottlings only available to those folks who make the journey to Islay. Or, y’know, those savvy enough to watch the auctions and swallow the inflated prices. That’s not my scene, though; I’d rather just make the jaunt when opportunity affords. Fingers and toes crossed for brighter days ahead and open travel. This limited edition Lagavulin 25 was bottled for the distillery’s bicentenary celebrations in 2016. Unfortunately, I only had a wee sample to work of ..read more

Ah, Macallan. I just want to ask…why? Oh, yeah. The money. How ’bout we just move on to some notes. This feels lazy, but it’s just really unremarkable (though, not, to be clear, flawed) whisky. Sherry-seasoned European and American Oak. 44% abv. Tasting Notes Nose: Very clean, actually. Some typical (and kinda boring, I realize) fruitcake. The kind with the marzipan toupee. Gramma’s raisin butter tarts. Some sort of reduced cherry, stripped of the zip, and a bit muddled. A touch of potting soil. A little orange and vanilla too. Cacao? Hmmm…you sure? Palate: Like sucking on a dead cinnamon stic ..read more

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Been a hectic week or two. Had a misguided chap drive a truck through the front of the shop, and then ran into some unexpected (and extremely expensive) hiccups in our basement development. It only spiraled from there. Back to tastings and shit as of today. See ya shortly… C ..read more

Confession: I have never been to Feis Ile (the Islay whisky festival). That probably seems blasphemous to some of you who have hung around here long enough to know my affinity for the isle of Islay and proclivity for anything related. I have actually made a point of avoiding the island at festival time. I’m just not into fighting the crowds and queues, and I’ve discovered that I like being able to eat and sleep without stress. Yeah, yeah, I’m getting old and soft, I know it. But here we are, year C19-2, and I’m really curious to see what happens on the island when the calendar comes ’round to ..read more

Another new Lowlander! Exciting times. And this one with some historic, if not proper pedigree. Whisky lore (and oh, so many tasting events) always mentions ye auld friar John Cor and his VIII bolls of malt, but perhaps Lindores Abbey is the only one going that can actually hang its hat on some legit sort of provenance. In fact, the distillery rests on the site of the old abbey referenced in the earliest written word on the spirit we love. Cool, aye? I think so. This commemorative first release (at a wee $80ca!) is only a 3 or 4 year old malt, but there’s already some cool stuff going on. We a ..read more

Man, I’m excited to be talking about Daftmill. It’s been a long wait for us whisky folk looking to get our grubby lil paws on the first releases from this somehow-already-cult-distillery. Normally there’d be some pithy remark about how it must have felt even longer for Francis and Ian Cuthbert, the gents behind this coveted new malt and distillery, but something tells me they just don’t really give a flying f*ck. The eye has always been toward quality and the pursuit of a good end product, irrespective of time and, to a degree, finance. But the proof is in the pudding, as they say. It took twe ..read more

I remember falling hard for Highland Park years ago. One of my best mates was the brand ambassador at the time I was courting HP (or maybe it was courting me?), and I vividly recall attending events he hosted and feeling like there was something kinda special about this distillery. Between his ability to evocatively express what I was picking up in the glass and his profound gift for marrying fact, history, and humor, I was probably the proverbial fish in a barrel. In fact, I know I was. That doesn’t change the fact that Highland Park was, on the whole, releasing some pretty damn good malts. A ..read more

For the first time, Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength has made its way to Canada. We’ve been kicking and screaming for this stuff for years, but our pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Until now. But before you get excited and start thinking the levee has broken and we’ll soon be aflood in a lake of Leapfrog, think again. The volume of liquid we’re getting here seems to be akin to what you’d trap in a solar still in a Saharan survival situation. But I’m not going to moan on. Instead, I’ll be grateful for having tasted it and to be able to share a few notes that may help someone make an informed dram deci ..read more

I was recently approached by some of our local representation for Glen Grant. They wanted to send me a bottle of the new Batch Strength 15 year old. The implication is that I’d help share the word. I think you know me by now, I’ve never really warmed to the idea of collecting freebies. That’s not why I do this. But I had an idea. An idea that would allow the good folks who reached out to me (and do note, they were lovely) to get some honest feedback, and also allow a bunch of my mates to try a dram of a malt I know none (or few) had ever tried. And I think…I may continue this idea if more offe ..read more