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Day 9 - KWM 2024 This Is Not An Advent Calendar - Millstone 25 Year Oloroso Canada Cask

Posted on December 9, 2024

*NOTE: If you have one of our Not An Advent Calendar Tastings set or kit and did not receive the email for the Day 1-5 Virtual Recap tasting that took place on Thursday, December 5th, please let me know.

Day 9 — Millstone 25 Year Oloroso Canada Cask

By Evan

We are going old and bold for today’s sample dram. For Day Nine, we will be tasting a single cask 25-Year-Old Single Malt Whisky from Millstone Whisky / Zuidam Distillery, which was aged in an ex-Oloroso Sherry cask.

If you are no yet familiar with Millstone, we should probably start by telling you that this here ain’t no Scotch Whisky. It is a Single Malt Whisky made in the Netherlands. We are going Dutch for this dram!

The Zuidam Distillery was founded in 1975 in Baarle-Nassau, which lies in the southern Netherlands, near the border the Dutch country shares with Belgium. The Founder, Fred van Zuidam, had accumulated two decades of previous experience in spirits production before deciding to make a go of it on his own. Under his care, the distillery started by making a line of premium liqueurs using natural ingredients, from grain to fruit to herbs and spices used. This methodology continues to this day, as Zuidam spirits are made with no artificial colouring or flavouring. This goes for all of their products, be it their Cassis Liqueur (which is delicious by the way), Apple Flavoured Gin, Dutch Courage Old Tom Gin, Premium Genever, or Single Malt Whiskies and Rye Whiskies. Millstone whiskies, and beyond that with the Zuidam line of spirits and liqueurs are numerous, so they can be hard to keep track of.

(Diagram that breaks down the whisky making process. Found on Zuidam Distillery's Website.)

Zuidam's first experiments in whisky-making started in 1994, and regular whisky production commenced four years later in 1998. Even then, the Zuidam family showed patience, not releasing their first single malt whisky commercially until 2007. The first bottling was a 5-year-old. It was also the first release to use the Millstone name, which was a reference to the use of Dutch Windmills to stone-mill the malted barley. Nowadays, the use of windmills is no longer enough to supply all the grist needed.

Fred’s son Patrick van Zuidam is now in charge of whisky and spirit production at the family distillery. Under his guidance, the distillery’s line of whisky has stretched into a variety of styles and grains, including Rye as well as three-grain and five-grain blends. On the single malt whisky side of things, the distillery uses long fermentation times as well as a Belgian Brewer’s Yeast for the fermentation itself. Patrick has a deep fondness for good quality sherry casks and has invested serious amounts of time and money to obtain them.
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Day 8 - KWM 2024 This Is Not An Advent Calendar - Longrow Peated

Posted on December 8, 2024

*NOTE: If you have one of our Not An Advent Calendar Tastings set or kit and did not receive the email for the Day 1-5 Virtual Recap tasting that took place on Thursday, December 5th, please let me know.

Day 8 — Longrow Peated

By Evan

If there is one distillery you might be surprised to see in the 2024 KWM This Is Note An Advent Calendar Tasting series, it is likely this one. Today we will be sampling Longrow; a heavily peated Single Malt Scotch made by Springbank Distillery.

We have featured whisky from Springbank in a few of our prior whisky calendars, but it was way back in 2018 when we featured it last. There is one big reason for that.

Over the past few years at Kensington Wine Market – and likely other liquor stores with a big whisky focus as well – there is one question that is fielded over and over by staff. And the answer is nearly always a disappointment to the customer asking it.

The question is: “Where do you keep your Springbank?”

The answer to that question, with some variation so that we don’t feel or sound like a broken record, is: “We don’t have any.”

I have talked about this issue in a few different places in the past.

The main issue is that we do not have – or at least incredibly rarely have – Springbank whisky on our shelves are:

Springbank is a relatively small distillery.
Springbank has become incredibly sought-after because it is a relatively small distillery that also happens to make great whisky.
Springbank makes great whisky that is incredibly sought-after and because it is a relatively small distillery, there is tremendous batch variation from release to release – even in their core range.
Springbank makes whisky that is very inconsistent and varies from batch to batch. This makes each batch of the whisky it releases incredibly sought-after: by Springbank lovers, drinkers new to whisky that have heard about how good Springbank is and want to find out what the fuss is about, and, sadly, by collectors and speculators. All at the same time.

In many ways, Springbank has become the centre of a perfect storm of whisky fervour that makes the likes of Macallan, Ardbeg Day releases, and Pappy Van Winkle green with envy. That it has managed to become THE sought-after whisky without even a fraction of the above name’s marketing budget or any of the outright intention of doing so is an impressive feat.

Enough about that, though. Let’s discuss the distillery and then get onto tasting this whisky. Here is a brief (by my standards – you are probably well aware that I have far too much love or the words I manipulate and abuse into the shape of sentences and paragraphs) overview:

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Day 7 - KWM 2024 This Is Not An Advent Calendar - Lochlea Cask Strength Batch 2

Posted on December 7, 2024

Day Seven - Lochlea Cask Strength Batch 2

By Evan

We are set to discover a newer distillery today, with whisky that is a far-cry from the 24 Years of age displayed in yesterday’s dram. Today, we are journeying to a farm in the Lowlands of Scotland. No – this is not Daftmill, like we featured on Day One in the 2023 KWM Whisky Calendar Tasting Set. This distillery on a farm is known as Lochlea.

Lochlea shares some similarities with Kilchoman, though it is not on Islay. Founded in 2017 by owner Neil McGeoch, Lochlea distillery resides on Lochlea Farm, which hosts 220 acres of barley-growing fields that surround the site. Lochlea Farm dates back to the 1700s and once housed and was worked by a certain famous poet. The Farm site that Lochlea Distillery resides on was home to Robert Burns between 1777 and 1784.

(Lochlea Distillery from above, showcasing the surrounding fields. Photo from Lochlea Distillery's Facebook page)

From its first distillation in 2018 to its first whisky in 2021, Lochlea was in the capable hands of Malcolm Rennie. Rennie was no neophyte when it came to whisky making, having spent time working at Ardbeg, Bruichladdich, and Glen Moray among other distilleries over his 35+ years in the industry. The man has been making his mark on Lowlands distilleries over the past decade: Just before joining Lochlea and guiding its inception, Malcolm Rennie helped revive and recreate the Annandale Distillery, which started production in late 2014 for the first time since 1918. That is more than 90 years prior if my math is correct. Since leaving Lochlea, Rennie has been helping head the revival of Rosebank Distillery since joining owner Ian McLeod Distillers in 2021.

The person behind most of Lochlea’s whisky releases until now has been John Campbell. While he joined Lochlea in 2021, Campbell has a solid reputation and a history in the Scotch Whisky industry – having spent 27 years heading a small Islay operation called Laphroaig. Maybe you have heard of it? In August 2024, it was announced that John was leaving Lochlea. In October, it was announced that he didn’t just leave the Distillery, but Scotland itself. He headed to California - of all places - for greener pastures and traded working with malted barley for dealing in Corn and Cane; he is now Chief Operating Officer and Master Distiller with Sespe Creek Distillery. Sespe Creek resides in Oxnard, California and was founded the year before Lochlea came into being, back in 2016. The Distillery has released Vodka, Rum, and Bourbon thus far, though its products are not available in Canada as of December 2024.

The Farmland surrounding Lochlea supplies all the grain that Lochlea needs for spirit production, and 1/5th of the barley is malted on-site at Lochlea’s own floor maltings. The spirit st...

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Day 6 - KWM 2024 This Is Not An Advent Calendar - Boutique-Y Speyside #4 24-Year-Old KWM Cask

Posted on December 6, 2024

Day Six — That Boutique-Y Speyside #4 24-Year-Old KWM Cask

By Evan

One distillery that has perhaps been underutilized over the decade plus of KWM Whisky Calendars is Glenlivet. It may not seem like it based on the information the bottle gives us, but today we are addressing that issue.

Our second KWM exclusive cask from That Boutique-y Whisky Company is an undisclosed Speyside Single Malt Cask, likely saved from being blended into oblivion in a bottling of Chivas Royal Salute. It is 24 years old, and just 220 (500ml) bottles were filled at a strength of 47.8% exclusively for your not-so-humble whisky friends here at KWM. Boutique-y isn't supposed to tell you this is Glenlivet… but we know you are going to Glen-Love-it!

As for the whisky, it is lush, tropical, and floral… dangerously easy drinking… and 35% cheaper than The Glenlivet Archive 21 Year OB at 43%!

Our first Boutique-y KWM bottle was from an undisclosed Highland Distillery that we know for certain is Clynelish.

We aren’t told where this Speyside Single Malt hails from, but That Boutique-y Whisky Company has done what they do best — beyond bottling great whisky, that is — and offered up a few hints. Here is the first one:

“There are 46 Speyside distilleries so are you feeling lucky? Punk? Oops wrong movie reference. Seriously though, we really can’t tell you where this comes from, or indeed give you too many clues… But don’t let that stop you from discovering this spectacular Speysider - we bet you’ll glen-love-it!”

Just in case that sounds like a red herring, here is the second hint:

“Our label is a riff on ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’ where a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins - a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer H.A.L. 9000.

Our spacecraft is this very modern (with the joint largest capacity) secret Speyside distillery, that can be run by just two men, and a computer.”

Based on that, it has to be Glenlivet or Glenfiddich, right? And Glenfiddich single malt is never independently bottled as far as we can tell - only casks of Blended Malt that have been teaspooned with Balvenie or Kininvie are sold or traded off… Hmm…

So, there you have it. Let’s talk about the Glenlivet Distillery before we dive into this bottle.

Glenlivet Distillery was officially founded two centuries ago in 1824, though it operated before that in a much less legally recognized manner, like many illicit distilleries at the time. Following the spirits act of 1823, Glenlivet was one of the first Speyside distilleries to go the legal route. The decision for this was made by then owner George Smith, and it was met ...

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Day 5 - KWM 2024 This Is Not An Advent Calendar - Kilchoman 100% Islay 10 Year KWM Cask

Posted on December 5, 2024

Day 5 — Kilchoman 100% Islay 10 Year KWM Cask for ScotchGuy's 20th Anniversary bottling

By Evan

We are going from Scotland’s current youngest operating distillery on Day Four to the Island’s second-youngest distillery for Day five. Today we are showcasing the latest Kilchoman KWM Cask. This one was bottled to celebrate Andrew Ferguson’s 20th year at Kensington Wine Market. This is the Kilchoman 100% Islay 10 Year ScotchGuy's 20th Anniversary bottling.

Wow, that long bottle name just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? But what does it all mean? We will get into that shortly. First off, let's talk about Kilchoman Distillery itself.

Kilchoman was opened in 2005 by Anthony Wills. It was the first new distillery to open on Islay in 124 years. The Distillery resides on Rockside Farm, though Anthony and his distiller company did not own the farm from the outset. The farm and its land surrounding the distillery was purchased later, in 2015. Thanks to that, the distillery sits on land that is capable of growing up to 230 acres of barley; some of which is used for the Kilchoman 100% Islay series, which is made from barley grown on Islay that is also malted at the distillery’s own floor malting building.

Speaking of malt, that is possibly the largest choke point Kilchoman has had to deal with over the past few years. Like many Islay distilleries, Kiclhoman relied on the Port Ellen maltings for most of its requirements outside its smaller producing 100% Islay range. Sadly, that steady and nearby source for peated malt was cut off near the end of 2022 by Diageo; the owners of Port Ellen. The only commercial maltings currently on Islay now only provides malt for Diageo owned distilleries. That means every distillery on Islay outside of Caol Ila, Lagavulin and the newly rebuilt Port Ellen itself has to source whatever they don’t malt onsite themselves from the Scottish mainland.

Kilchoman’s need for malted barley has grown considerably over the past decade. The distillery expanded from two to four stills in 2019, and is currently adding a third pair of stills, which will come online in 2025.

As I mentioned earlier, the bottling of Kilchoman we will sample today uses malt from their 100% Islay range. It is the 9th or so Kilchoman cask we have selected for Kensington Wine Market. Or 8th or 10th. Counting is hard. What I can say with certainty is that the whisky is 10 years old and was matured in an ex-Bourbon Barrel.

Shall we?

Kilchoman 100% Islay 10 Year KWM Cask for ScotchGuy's 20th Anniversary – 55.5%

Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: Did somebody pour some olive brine in my apple juice? Plenty of apple and pear notes mingling with salty coastal notes. Apple Jacks cereal (milk and all), buttery lo...

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