Follow Us:

Blog

Introducing the Jura Paps Collection 3x 15 Years

Posted on February 22, 2013

The isle of Jura is a remote and mountainous place. Though closer to the mainland than Islay, it is more rugged and far more sparsely populated. The isle is long and lean with a sharply undulating spine. Jura's only town, Craighouse, and sole distillery, Isle of Jura, cling to a sheltered bay on the island's south-east coast. The island once boasted a population of around 3000 people, mostly crofters, but today there are all of 188 men, women and children.



Jura's profile is dominated by its three largest conical mountains or "paps". The largest of these steep quartzite hills rises 785m from the coast. The word pap is Norse in origin, and derived from the female word for breast, which two of the mountains resemble. The mountains loom over Jura and can be viewed from nearly anywhere on Islay, as as far away as Northern Ireland on a clear day.



Isle of Jura distillery's Paps Collection consists of three wine cask finished whiskies, each 15 years old, each bottled at 46% without chill filtering, each limited to just 1366 bottles and available only as a boxed set. The whiskies are names for Jura's three islands: Mountain of Gold, Mountain of the Sound and The Sacred Mountain. These boxed sets are available exclusively in Canada from Kensington Wine Market. Only 11 sets are available, 3 of which have sold. The whiskies are available for sampling in store. The Paps Collection retails for $491.99 + GST. Here are my tasting notes on them:

Jura Mountain of Sound 15 Year - 46% - Cabernet Sauvignon Cask Finish - 1366 Total Bottles - My Tasting Note: "Nose: soft with allspice, floral-grassy-malt, and honey with dried cherries and cranberries; softens to Strawberry Twizzlers, barley sugar and sugar cane; Palate: more peppery and spicy than expected with soft leathery tannins and musty oak in a dunnage warehouse; dried and salted raisins, cranberries and cherries with some honey, licorice root and baked cloves; Finish: the Strawberry Twizzlers return but are quickly replaced by the dark spice and drying-earthy-leathery-tannins.
Jura Mountain of Gold 15 Year - 46% - Pinot Noir Cask Finish - 1366 Bottles - My Tasting Note: "Nose: honey and nuts with spice, new leather sofa and fresh hewed wood; assorted jujubes, candied orange, date squares and Demerara sugar; Palate: big, leathery, fruity and sweet with some tingling spicy; orange coated almonds, beer nuts, candied ginger and orange with cinnamon and anise;  chewy with jujube like fruit notes, leather and firm tannins; Finish: mid length, coating and leathery with fading sweet and spice.
Jura The Sacred Mountain 15 Year - 46% - Barolo Cask Finish - 1366 Bottles - My Tasting Note: Nose: some Christmas cake elements: candied fruit, dark spice and cooked molasses; soft and inviting with some creamy oak and cinnamon hearts; hints of all spice, cooked bananas and dulce leche; Palate: lovely interplay o...

Continue Reading →




Berry's Blue Hangar 6th Edition Named Best Blend or Blended Whisky of 2012

Posted on February 21, 2013

On the 27th of January 2013 Malt Advocate Magazine announced on its blog that it was naming Blue Hanger 6th Release from Berry Brother's & Rudd as the "Blended/Blended Malt Whisky of the Year" as part of their 19th Annual Whisky Awards. "The Whisky Advocate Awards exist to recognize excellence in the world of whisky. Now in its 19th year, the program is still simply about the world’s greatest whiskies and distilleries, and the individuals who make and promote them."

From Whisky Advocate Blog:

"Blue Hanger 6th Release, 45.6%, £68

Last year the contenders for this category happened to be connected by a taste theme of citrus and pepper, and by coincidence there is a taste theme running through the contenders this year, too. This time, though, it’s an altogether bigger, earthier, and more challenging taste, with peat and oil to the fore. Arguably the best two blended whiskies of the year were Johnnie Walker Blue Label Casks Edition, bottled at cask strength, and Compass Box Great King Street New York Blend, both with peat smoke to the fore. A cask strength version of blended malt The Big Peat made the peat even bigger…and that’s going some.

"Peat is present in our winner, too, but here it’s wonderfully entwined with some rich, fruity Speyside malts. Blue Hanger contains just malt whisky and is made by Doug McIvor for Berry Bros. & Rudd in London using the finest Scotch malts at his disposal. Over the years Blue Hanger has built a reputation for fine quality, and each creation can be viewed as something of a master class in whisky making. But this release takes an unexpected turn for the better, surpassing even our highest expectations by offering an extra peaty, rustic dimension to a perfect mix of orange and berry fruits, cocoa, vanilla, and spice. With John Glaser still setting the pace for blended malts with the most recent versions of Flaming Heart and Spice Tree, and this release raising the bar still further, this category is on fire. Stunning. —Dominic Roskrow"

Berry's Blue Hanger 6th Edition is exclusive in Canada to the Kensington Wine Market, and just 90 bottles have come in.

Whisky Advocate's Review of Blue Hanger 6th Edition:

"Blue Hanger 6th Release Berry Bros. & Rudd, 45.6% If you want proof that blended malts can be world class, you'll find it in any bottle of Blue Hanger. Lovingly created by Berry Bros. whisky maker Doug McIvor, every release has been exceptional. Even by the series’ own high standards, this sixth release surpasses itself. The nose is fresh, clean, and citrusy, with wafts of sherry. But there are smoky hints, too. And it's that peaty, earthy note on the palate that gives this release a new dimension, enriching the fruity Speyside sweetness at the whisky's core. The age and quality ...

Continue Reading →




BenRiach Vertical II - Unpeated Malt - Tuesday February 12 2013

Posted on February 16, 2013

BenRiach Distillery is one of those to keep an acute eye on these days. Since being acquired by BenRiach Distillery Co. from Pernod Ricard in 2004 the distillery has gone on to release an assortment of whiskies rivaled only by Bruichladdich in quantity. Early in 2013 we received a new shipment of single cask vintage BenRiach bottlings from Batch 9. As there were too many individual bottling to fit into one tasting, and an assortment of other BenRiach single casks already in store, it was decided to break them up into Peated and Unpeated vertical flights.

 

The peated BenRiach Vertical I tasting has been put off until March 13th (you can register for it here: https://www.kensingtonwinemarket.com/tastings/register.php ), and a posting on that tasting will follow this one. Only 6 bottles of most of these whiskies made it to the market, with the exception of the KWM cask.



As these are all single casks, of varying strengths and cask types the order they were sampled does not exactly correlate to their ages. As always, I try to arrange the whiskies by flavour profile, from lightest to strongest. All whiskies are cask strength. 5 of the 7 are from Batch 9, one from Batch 8 and another a cask bottled for KWM. The tasting:

BenRiach 1983 Cask 291 - 43.1% - 29 Year - Hogshead Cask -My Tasting Note: "Nose: soft white chocolate, granular sugars, chewy malt and floral tones; Highland toffee, citrus fruits, melons and pineapple; Palate: light, soft, malty and toasty; wisps of floral tendrils and grassy-chewy malt; crystallized honey, toffee chews and liquid caramel with ripe orange and cantaloupe; Finish: sweet and toasty w/ emergin sweet spice, very delicate and decadent with drying white chocolate." - $209.99 – Only 2 left!
BenRiach 1983 KWM Cask 298 - 44.2% - 29 Year - Hogshead Cask - My Tasting Note: "Nose: creamy and toasty with floral and tropical fruit notes, Manukah honey, fresh strawberries and barley sugar; melons, mangos and kiwis; Palate: lush, rich, honeyed and very fruity; waves of mango, pineapple, papaya and melons; honeydew and cantaloupe; fresh thick cream w/ more heathery honey, toasty oak and dusty malt; Finish: drying, toasty and oaky yet creamy with hints of the glorious tropical fruits; long and very smooth." - $205.99
BenRiach 1990 Cask 2596 – 53.4% - 22 Year – Tawny Port Finish – My Tasting Note: “Nose: damp muddy earth, macerated raisins, dark chocolate and damp tobacco leaf; brandy soaked cherries, cranberry juice and musty oak; Palate: massively grapey, sangria, fruity chocolate, bitter cigar tobacco, very dark spices and dark fruit; cloves, Dutch licorice and burnt wood; Finish: more grapey dark fruits and earthy/leathery notes; long, very tan...

Continue Reading →




Photos from our 8th Annual Scots What Hae Robbie Burns Supper

Posted on February 15, 2013


We were very privileged to have Michael Urquhart of Gordon & MacPhail as our guest of honour on Janaury 25th at Fort Calgary. Michael lead us through a tasting of six great whiskies (listed below) and did a wonderful job of addressing the haggis. Our good friend Andy Dunn (the importer for Benromach and Gordon & MacPhail was also on hand and in fine form.

Mary Ann Houston of the Calgary Police Service returned for her 7th straight year as our piper. Terry Lauder, past President of the Calgary Burns Club who's been at 7 of our last 8 Burns Suppers also returned after a year of absence to give the Immortal Memory.

Participants had the unique opportunity this year of helping Kensington Wine Market select a cask of whisky to be bottled exclusively for our store.

The above photo is of the barrel samples from which KWM will choose a future Bourbon cask to be bottled for our store. Participants we also treated to a flight of six whiskies from Gordon & MacPhail and Benromach Distillery:

Benromach 10 Year - $62.99
Benromach Cask Strength - $80.99
Benromach Organic - $71.49
Benromach Peat Smoke - $69.49
Smith's Glenlivet 21 Year - $119.49
G&M Tamdhu 1971 40 Year - $249.99


A very special thanks to all of those who attended our 2013 Burns Supper, and especially to those without whose participation, the event would not have been so special!


Michael Urquhart - Guest of Honour / Address to a Haggis
Andy Dunn - Importer Gold Medal Marketing
Mary Ann Houston - Piper
Terry Lauder - The Immortal Memory
Susan Chalier - Reply to the Toast to the Lassies
Nancy Carten - Owner Kensington Wine Market
The Springbank School of Highland Dance
The staff at Fort Calgary
Kensington Wine Market Staff: Marty Rozon and Hunter Sullivan
Andrew Ferguson - Chairman

Our 2014 Scots What Hae Robbie Burns Supper is booked for Saturday January 25th 2014, returning to Fort Calgary.

[gallery orderby="rand"]
 ...

Continue Reading →




New Exclusive Duthies Single Malts Available in Store!

Posted on February 22, 2013



New Releases from Duthies by William Cadenhead exclusive  to Kensington Wine Market. This may be the last of the Duthies releases to make it to Canada, as all future bottlings will under the William Cadenhead label.

Duthies Royal Lochnagar 10 Year – 46% - Matured in Oak – My Tasting Notes: “Nose: sugary and malty, lemon drops and lime Jell-O; light spice, with green apple, honey and beeswax; Palate: sweet and malty still with more citric notes (lemon & lime), mint sprigs and wet leaves; browning green apple and Demerara; Finish: sweet and malty with more sugars, green apple and honey. - $77.99
Duthies Glen Ord 16 Year – 46% - Matured in Oak –My Tasting Note: “Nose: peppery, earthy and spicy; something has my attention, but I can’t immediately figure it out; green and grassy, herbal like a tequila and vegetal (turnips and parsnips) over a creamy vanilla base:Palate: very spicy, still herbal and vegetal with more baked turnip and parsnip; green grassy malt and both dried and candied fruits; also late emerging Christmas spices; Finish: the spices are in complete control with hints of the dried and candied fruit. - $87.99
Duthies Springbank 11 Year – 46% - Matured in Rum Casks – My Tasting Note: “Nose: highland toffee, heather honey and clotted cream with salty sea breeze; newly cured leather, sugary malt and some candied orange; Palate: richly toffee, smooth caramel and butterscotch with soft-oily-(faintly)salty-peat; becomes darker with growing earthy smoke, fennel seeds and honey; Finish: sweet and oily with fading Highland toffee, round malt and clean sea smoke. - $77.99
Duthies Glen Scotia 12 Year – 46% - Matured in Oak – My Tasting Note: “Nose: dark and earthy with old leather jackets, cloves, espresso grounds and pouch tobacco; fruit leather, cocoa powder and sugary malt; Palate: fruity, spicy and earthy; candied fruits alongside firm leather and moderately strong tobacco; then cloves and fennel seeds with chocolate espresso beans; Finish: more chocolate espresso beans, dark spices and leather with some faint candied fruit. - $76.99
Duthies Caol Ila 17 Year – 46% - Matured in Oak – My Tasting Note: “Nose: sweet, briny and fishy with creosote and damp wood smoke; softly peated malt, crème brule, dank forrest litter and lemon furniture oil; Palate: the peat is initially more robust than expected fading into damp wood smoke; salt and spices tingle on the palate while fish oils coat it; becomes darker, sweeter and spicier with each sip showing candied fennel, licorice nibs and candied salmon; Finish: long, coating, oily and smoky with more sea salt and tingling spices. ...

Continue Reading →




Newer Posts →

← Older Posts

Recent Posts
Archives

Categories