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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 6: Loch Lomond Original

Posted on December 9, 2021

by Evan

RECAP TASTING REMINDER: If you are interested in joining us via Zoom for our 5-day recap tasting, the next one happens on December 10th @ 7 PM Calgary time. If you have not already done so, you can sign up to be emailed the Zoom link for these tastings here. You will also be able to find these tastings on Facebook Live and recorded for posterity there as well.

We have done unpeated whisky. We have done peated whisky. We have done Bourbon. So, what will day and door number six in the 2021 KWM Whisky Calendar give us? Crack open that door and pull out the Loch Lomond Original!

There are a few of what I like to think of as unofficial traditions that have survived multiple years of the KWM Whisky Calendar. For one: there is usually at least one of our own KWM single casks hiding behind one of the doors. Another is we almost always have a bottle from Kilchoman in there.

Two more recent traditions have cropped up over the past three years. The first is finally getting Andrew to let me inflict Bourbon upon the Calendar and those that consume it. The second is something I can’t take any credit for but nevertheless am very happy about: having Loch Lomond Distillery highlighted within.

Founded in 1965, Loch Lomond is a bizarre operation that is capable of making multiple different styles of spirit all under one roof. The distillery can produce Single Malt, Single Grain, and Blended Whisky entirely at one site. It can and does this, and it also makes Single Malt in a wide variety of styles, including both peated and unpeated types.

There are a total of thirteen stills within the Loch Lomond Distillery, however, they are definitely not all the same. Included in this number are your typical swan-neck style pot stills: the type you see at most Scottish distilleries that make single malt whisky. Beyond that though, things get weird. There are also three pairs of straight-neck pot stills, which are sometimes called Lomond stills. One of these pairs has a water cooling system installed on the top of the still that the heated vapour hits before going through the narrowing neck/pipe for collection. This results in much more reflux and leads to a lighter, softer, fruitier spirit being produced.

Last but not least, there is a six-story Coffey/column still that is split in two to accommodate the three-story building it resides in. This still is used to distill malted barley, but due to SWA regulations, it is still classified as a Single Grain spirit. The whisky made with this still is used in their blends, but you can occasionally find it bottled as Rhosdhu by indie bottlers.

With this unusual combination, Loch Lomond Distillery can produce its own blended whisky entirely on-site without sourcing whisky from other distilleries. It is one of the very few (possibly only)...

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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 5: New Riff Bonded Bourbon

Posted on December 6, 2021

by Evan

RECAP TASTING REMINDER: If you are interested in joining us via Zoom for our 5-day recap tasting, the next one happens on December 10th @ 7 PM Calgary time. If you have not already done so, you can sign up to be emailed the Zoom link for these tastings here. You will also be able to find these tastings on Facebook Live and recorded for posterity there as well.

Day five has arrived! Crack open that door and take a look at the cool-looking bottle inside. We have a Bourbon in this year’s KWM Whisky Calendar, hailing from a Kentucky distillery called New Riff.

Here is a great introduction to New Riff Distillery in video form

You may say that you have never heard of this distillery before? Understandable. We only started seeing bottles of New Riff on our shelves for the first time this summer, and they have impressed us at Kensington Wine Market and consumers, quickly gaining a following.

New Riff Distillery was established in 2014 in Newport, Kentucky. It resides remarkably close to the Ohio River that acts as the border between Kentucky and Ohio. Only a few blocks away is the Interstate 471 and the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge, which connect Newport directly to Cincinnati, which is right on the other side of that river.

There are a few things that set New Riff apart from other whiskey companies both craft and larger scale. First, their focus has always been on making their own Bourbon and Rye Whiskey. They have not gone the route of many young craft distilleries by sourcing whiskey from elsewhere to release under their own label. All the bottles of New Riff we have seen in Alberta have been distilled, aged, and bottled by New Riff themselves.

Another thing that New Riff does differently is to focus on Bottled in Bond for most of its whiskey releases. By releasing both a Bonded Bourbon and Rye even though they are a young distillery, they are giving us consumers more information about who made the whiskey and the minimum age of it as well. This is all thanks to the Bottled in Bond Act of 1897, which was one of the first consumer protection laws to ever be created.

What does the Bottled in Bond Act do? It acts as a guarantor of the whiskey in the bottle as any bottle that carries the Bonded term must adhere to the following rules:

All whiskey in the bottle must be produced by one distillery and by one distiller over the course of one distillation season.
The whiskey must be at least four years old.
It must be bottled at least 100 proof / 50% ABV
The whiskey must be aged in bonded warehouses under United States federal supervision.
The label on the bottle must state which distillery it comes from and where it was bottled.

Beyond their Bonded Rye and Bourbon Whiskies, we have also see...

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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 4: Peat's Beast

Posted on December 4, 2021

by Evan

Day Four has arrived, and I am getting a wee bit parched for some peat. How about you? Shall we see if this Peat’s Beast Single Malt Scotch quenches that thirst?

As you might expect there is no Scottish Distillery named Peat’s Beast. Instead, it is a brand name owned by a company called Fox Fitzgerald, Ltd. The company was established in 2010 and is a broker, independent bottler and brand creator. They have a hand in a few whiskies you may have heard of, creating the Rest & Be Thankful indie bottle brand as well as Peat’s Beast. They also have a hand in both of ex Bruichladdich head Mark Reynier’s current ventures: Waterford Distillery in Ireland and Renegade Rum Distillery in Grenada.

The Peat’s Beast was the first brand the company launched back in 2010 soon after its own founding. As I hinted earlier and as you would expect given the name, the brand’s focus is on Peated Whisky. The beast made of casks on the label is an illustration by a gentleman named Doug Alves; a Brazilian designer that has worked with many brands over the years including Facebook, Toyota, and currently AirBNB. The Peat’s Beast emblem seems to be a remix of another work of his involving motocross which can be seen here.

Besides the flagship expression, we will be tasting today the lineup currently includes a Cask Strength Version, a Cask Strength PX Sherry Finish that we were happy to help launch in Canada, plus three older unnamed Islay Single malts bottled at an impressive 25, 27, 30 and 34 years of age.

Since Peat’s Beast is a brand, there is the distinct possibility that these single malts were sourced from more than one distillery. One could easily assume that all of them were sourced from Islay, but even that might not be the case… Note that the 46% ABV version of Peat’s Beast that we will be tasting dubs itself as “AN INTENSELY PEATED SINGLE MALT SCOTCH WHISKY”. Nowhere on the label does it mention Islay though… The 27-, 30-, and 34-Year-Old versions of Peat’s Beast explicitly state do say Islay Single Malt right on the label, so the lack of Islay does seem rather intentional on this bottle.

We have been able to verify via importer Pacific Wine & Spirits that Fox Fitzgerald and undisclosed Peated Single Malt with a peat spec of 33 ppm that is used for this release of Peat’s Beast as well as the Peat’s Beast Cask Strength and PX Cask Strength. One whisky blog says it was sourced from a mystery distillery in Speyside. It could be that Fox Fitzgerald is contractually obligated to not disclose their source. Just to add fuel to the fire: Andrew had a recent tasting with the PX Cask Strength. The next day he revealed to me that he thought it tasted a lot like Ledaig (with a look of horror on his face – jokingly because...

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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 3: Glencadam 10 Year Old

Posted on December 3, 2021

by Evan

Day four has arrived and it is time to open the door with that very same number on your 2021 KWM Whisky Calendar. Pull out the tube within you will find yourself holding the Glencadam 10-Year-Old.

If you are following along, you may remember that in yesterday’s blog post on the Tomintoul 16-Year-Old I had mentioned that Glencadam Distillery and Tomintoul are both owned by Angus Dundee Distillers. Unlike Tomintoul which is firmly planted within Speyside, Glencadam resides in the more all-encompasing Highland region. What makes the Highlands as a region so nebulous? A few things:

The Speyside region technically is within the Highlands of Scotland
The Highlands as a region contains most of the West Coast, East Coast, and North Coast of the Scottish mainland. Aside from Speyside in its center, The Lowlands in the South and the tiny dot of Campbeltown the Highlands are the Scottish Mainland.

So where in the Highlands in Glencadam? The distillery resides in the town of Brechin, near the East Coast of Scotland. It is about a 20-minute drive west of the town of Montrose and the East Coast and where the River South Esk flows into the North Sea. Glencadam’s nearest distillery neighbours are Fettercairn Distillery which is less than a 20-minute drive to the North and the relatively new Arbikie Distillery which is a 20-minute drive to the South and East.

Glencadam distillery was established in 1825, soon after the Excise Act of 1823 made distilling legal. The distillery was purchased by a gentleman named David Scott in 1827 and held by he and then his family until 1891. Glencadam never had much of a name of it’s own in the whisky market during this time and was typically rented out to other distillers. During both World War I and II, the distillery was mothballed and warehouses on the property were used as barracks for soldiers. In 1954, Glencadam was purchased by Hiram Walker, a company which in turn was purchased by Allied Lyons in 1987. Allied Lyons changed its name in 1994 to Allied Domecq and in the year 2000, the company mothballed Glencadam. In 2003, Angus Dundee Distillers stepped in and purchased the distillery and revived it.

During its entire production life up until Angus Dundee took over, Glencadam had never been given its due as a Single Malt Scotch. It was prized by blenders but not once had it been allowed to showcase itself as an individual whisky. That finally changed in 2005 when Angus Dundee Distillers released the first ever official Glencadam Single Malt Scotch was released as a 15-year-old. The brand saw a more extensive launch in 2009 with a 10- and 21-Year-Old joining the 15. A few cask-finished expressions have been released since then as well including the newer Glencadam Reserva Andalucia, which is an Oloroso Sherry Butt finished non-age-stated bottling.

To...

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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 2: Tomintoul 16 Year Old

Posted on December 2, 2021

by Evan

Day number two is upon us. Time to dive into the 2021 KWM Whisky Calendar. What will it bestow upon us today? We are sticking in Speyside, this time with the Tomintoul 16-Year-Old!

So, what is the scoop on Tomintoul Distillery?

Tomintoul is one of two Scottish Whisky Distilleries owned by Angus Dundee Distillers – the other being Glencadam in the Highlands. Tomintoul resides in the heart of Speyside in the hamlet of Kirkmichael. The hamlet itself is about 10km South of Ballindalloch, Banffshire along the River Avon. Tomintoul’s nearest distillery neighbours include Tamnavulin, Braeval, Balmenach and Glenlivet. Like Braeval Distillery, Tomintoul is on the younger side having only been founded less than 60 years ago in 1965. Compare that to the oldest distilleries in Speyside: Strathisla distillery dates back to 1786!

Tomintoul (Tom – in – towel) translates to “Hill of the barn” from Gaelic, and I think we can all agree that the Gaelic version sounds fancier and was the right choice for the distillery name. On official bottlings, owner Angus Dundee puts the moniker “The gentle dram” on the label, which should give you some idea of the distillery style when it comes to the whisky.

The distillery makes what you could think of as ‘prototypical Speyside’ whisky – most of what Tomintoul produces is a soft, fruity spirit with no smoke or peat influence. As many distilleries do, Tomintoul does create its own exception to this rule, producing a small amount of heavily peated spirit each year which usually goes by the name Ballantruan. If you are into peated whisky I highly recommend trying the Old Ballantruan 10-Year-Old if you have the opportunity.

The only regular expression from Tomintoul that contains some of this peated spirit is called the Peaty Tang. The 16 Year Old that we will soon be tasting is entirely unpeated like just about all of the Tomintoul lineup. Bottled at 40%, the 16-year-old is matured almost entirely in ex-Bourbon Casks and has been part of the core range for a number of years. Let’s crack open that bottle and give it a taste!

Tomintoul 16-Year-Old - 40%

Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: Apple crumble, poached pears and peaches, cinnamon coffee cake, a mug of hot cocoa with whipped cream on top, and a mossy forest floor.

Palate: Chocolate-coated almonds, Neopolitan ice cream, a London Fog Latte, cinnamon shortbread cookies, graham crackers, and a trail mix full of roasted peanuts, sunflower seeds, a few raisins and bits of dark chocolate..

Finish: The chocolate and nutty notes stick around. Toasty and roasted to the end.

Comment: It has been a while since I have tasted the Tomintoul 16 and it is richer, more roasted and more nutty than I remember. ...

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