Wow! November arrived in full force here at Kensington Wine Market. In the first full week of the month we held a sold out whisky festival, which itself was sandwiched betwixt two days of SMWS tastings. As with October, the November tastings for SMWS at our shop sold out incredibly fast. Due to this, we added a FIFTH tasting, which itself sold out as well! All told, We hosted five SMWS whisky tastings and at our whisky festival over four straight days. It was like running a sprint and a marathon at the same time. Luckily, the groups at every one of these events were fun to hang out and chat whisky with, which made the time fly!

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by Evan

Winter is coming. Or so they say. We have already seen snow on the ground, though most has since melted. In Calgary, and in many parts of Canada, that means it could be any month between January and December. Doesn’t really narrow it down much, but looking at the Calendar tells me that we are indeed now in October.

Our busy fall season is now in full swing here at Kensington Wine Market, and we received clear evidence of that in how quickly the four Outturn tastings for October sold out. If only there was enough time in the day, we probably could have sold through a fifth tasting as well.

With October being busy, November will be absolute chaos when it arrives, with the four Outturn tastings being sandwiched around a sold out Whisky Festival. Fun times. Are we getting close to peak whisky? Is such a thing even possible? I have my doubts, but only time will tell.

Back to the present Outturn. Here is what October and the SMWS Canada have given us to salivate over:

• Our second SMWS Canada bottling from the underated distillery 115 (Knockdhu, also known as anCnoc). 8 years old and flawless in my books. Creamy, oily and fruity with a bit of spice. So well put together at such a young age. This will likely be sold out very soon, if it isn’t already. I would suggest looking at 12.18 – WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT as an equally-as-good alternative. BenRiach and Knockdhu both seem to have the combination of young single malt and well chosen oak casks dialed in – or at least the SMWS knows how to pick great casks from both of these distilleries!
• Toffee and Turf from Lowlands distillery #5 was a fun second bottle in the lineup, exhibiting candied red fruit notes (Twizzlers and Nibs!) before moving through big spice and then earthy notes on the palate. The nose is great, and the transitions it goes through on the tongue are a lot of fun to experience. This is my favourite SMWS bottling from distillery 5 that I can recall tasting.
• The third bottle in the tasting lineup is the first SMWS bottle we have seen in Canada from distillery #113. This workhorse distillery was purpose built to make single malt to be used in blended Scotch, and even indie bottles are rare. At seven years of age, THYME FOR A BANANA offers what you would expect based on the name – a combination of fruity and herbaceous character at a solid price.
• We jumped from the very young to the respectably aged with A BRIDE IN A WAXED JACKET, which to me comes across as a remarkable mashup of Glen Grant and Clynelish in style. This 25 year old is a complex combination of wax, fruit, musty dunnage, and more. I guess I haven’t tasted enough from distillery 46 to really peg its style down, but this one is excellent no matter what it tastes like.
• The fifth bottle in the lineup was just slightly younger at 21 years old, having spent time in two casks which previously held different styles of sherry. That sherry cask influence shows in spades, but the distillery character on SUCCULENT, SCINTILLATING AND SUBSTANTIAL is not covered up at all. Sherry cask fans need to check this one out.
• We head into peated territory with FULL STEAM AHEAD!, but the peat is soft and very well balanced by the big, sweet malty notes throughout. This is a gorgeous bottling from a Highland distillery that specializes in peated single malt.
• We finally landed on Islay with the last bottle in the linup, titled SPOT ON! The name says it all. This has all of the earmarks of the distillery it hails from in my opinion, in all the right ways.

Those are my thoughts on the Outturn. A big thanks as always goes to our neighbor’s Peasant Cheese for supplying the food compliment for the tastings.

Read on below for the Society’s own tasting notes on each bottle, plus pricing info.

Cheers,
Evan
evan@kensingtonwinemarket.com
Twitter and Instagram: @sagelikefool
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by Evan

September always feels like a turning point in the year for me, and I probably I am not alone. Fall has not officially started yet, but summer vacation is over for many of us and the kids are back in school. This is the start of a busiest time of year here at Kensington Wine Market, as we ramp up for all of our fall tastings and festivals and prepare to sell and build our 2019 KWM Whisky Advent Calendar.

Society-wise, it means we return to seven new releases in the Outturn, instead of the six releases and one featured returning bottle as we run in June, July and August. Here is what we tasted our way through this month:

• This Outturn is on the relatively affordable side of things, with only one bottle costing more than $200. Two of the bottles are available for less than $150 and the rest are priced between $180-$190.
• The lineup as a whole has a fun chronology to it trading between fresh and style to more funky bottles for most of the tasting.
• On the fresh side of things, we start with a young but very well put together Linkwood. This is one of my personal favourites from distillery 39 in recent memory. Style-wise, it compares well to the equally great BenRiach we had in August, but with more spice and and green wood notes coming through, and a little less creaminess.
• In what could be a sign of a post-brexit apocalyptic future in which all Scotch Whisky comes from one single remaining distillery – we have two very different Loch Lomonds in this Outturn. One is older and unpeated (or perhaps shows the bearest hint of peat?) – the other is quite young and peated. Which is better? the 135 or the 122? That is for you to decide. I, for one, welcome Loch Lomond as are our new distillery overlords. May their multiple-society-number reign be righteous and true.
• The first Glenlivet we have seen in a while is spicy and rich with vibrant fruit notes. It reminds me of a few SMWS and indie Longmorn I have enjoyed over the past few years or so.
• The fourth bottle in the lineup comes from distillery 37 – which also gave us the most expensive SMWS bottle we have seen so far in Canada back in April of this year. This one is younger and does not break the bank. It is also shows some wonderful yet not over-the-top sherry notes and the barest hint of peat.
• Possibly the funkiest bottle of the night was the 46.70, which shows a heavy Madeira Cask influence. I thought it would be divisive because of this, but it turned out to be more of a crowd-pleaser at the tastings.
• Bottle number six comes from my personal favourite Islay distillery, SMWS number 10. It is on the unpeated side of things but big and oily and malt-forward with a bucket of salt on the palate. I honestly would have guessed this was from distillery 66 if I had tasted it blind without the cheat-sheet to read from.
• I already mentioned the young, peated Loch Lomond, which was the last of the night, but good grief did I enjoy this one. It packs a lot of flavour and fun into a young whisky package.

Curious about the seven new bottles? Read on below – but first I would like to thank the always wonderful Peasant Cheese for providing the small bites to go along with our monthly pilgrimage up cask strength whisky mountain. Also, don’t forget we have plenty of past releases you can browse anytime on our Scotch Malt Whisky Society Pages.

Cheers,
Evan
evan@kensingtonwinemarket.com
Twitter and Instagram: @sagelikefool

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