Day 9 of the 2019 KWM Whisky Calendar - MacNair's Lum Reek 12 Year
Posted on December 8, 2023
by EvanWelcome to door number nine in the 2019 KWM Whisky Calendar, which features MacNair's Lum Reek 12 Year Old. This is the second Blended Malt we have had in this year's Calendar. Beyond also featuring a portrait of some guy on the label, it likely won't have much else in common with the first Blended Malt Scotch we tasted back on Day six, which was The Epicurean.
The Some Guy in reference to this label is the titular MacNair - full name Harvey MacNair. Harvey was a distiller and had a company named (wait for it...) Harvey MacNair and Company was founded in 1857 in Glasgow. In 1911, the company purchased the Elgin Distillery called Benromach, only to sell it at the onset of World War I in 1919.
Harvey MacNair himself was apparently a jaunty chap, so maybe this bottle does have something else in common with The Epicurean. Harvey was a businessman from Glasgow who had a knack for blending whisky. He is known for promoting the natural idea of whisky being released at natural colour. Harvey was the creator of the original Lum Reek, apparently inspired by drinking whisky in a room with a blocked chimney (called a 'lum').
The room was filled with smoke, and supposedly instead of expiring from carbon monoxide poisoning, Harvey MacNair was inspired to give a blend the name Lum Reek and create said blend with a peaty style. The name comes from the Scottish phrase "Lang may yer lum reek", which translates to "long may your chimney smoke". This is essentially a toast to someone's health. Hopefully, that person's lum is not blocked like Harvey's was.
The MacNair Whisky company was purchased by Hiram Walker in 1933, which itself was acquired by Allied Lyons PLC in 1987. in 2005, THAT company was purchased by Pernod Ricard. In the summer of 2016, Pernod Ricard sold the Glenallachie distillery and the Blended Scotch brands White Heather and MacNair's to a consortium led by Billy Walker.
Speaking of Billy Walker, his fingerprints have been all over bottles featured in past KWM Whisky Calendars if you go back through the years. Just last year, we tasted GlenAllachie's 10 Year Batch Strength and 12 Year Old. In years before, when Billy Walker still was in charge of his previous distilleries' BenRiach, GlenDronach and Glenglassaugh, we saw many bottles from them as well. These included the BenRiach 10 Year Curiositas, GlenDronach 8 Year Hielan, Glenglassaugh Torfa, and many more.
I say all of this not in hopes of making you yearn for Whisky and Calendars' of yor, but to underline what kind of pedigree Billy Walker has. When the man creates a whisky, it is worth your time to pay attention and try it out. He seems to know what he is doing.
MacNair's Lum Reek 12-Year-Old Blended Malt Scotch
The MacNair's brand has been built on the backbone...
Day 8 of the 2019 KWM Whisky Calendar - Robert Burns Single Malt
Posted on November 7, 2021
by EvanDay eight if the advent is here, so it is time to open another door on the 2019 KWM Whisky Calendar. Today's bottle comes to us from the Isle of Arran's Lochranza Distillery but has a different name on it. The name of Scotland's most famous of poets, and Scotch Whisky's unofficial poet laureate - Robert Burns.
For a man that passed away at 37 years of age, Robert Burns was a fairly prolific and popular poet. He started along the path of poetry at 15 years of age and his first collection was first published in 1786 with a second edition following hot on its heels the following year. Born in 1759, Burns would have been between 26 and 28 years old at the time of his rising popularity.
While he did become more popular, especially in the cliques of artists and literati in Edinburgh, this did not make his financial life easier, so he was forced to undertake a day job working for Customs and Excise. The work allowed him to live a bit more comfortably and also provide for his family. While there is evidence that he did not enjoy being THE MAN or working for THE MAN, he remained at this station until his untimely passing on the 21st of July, 1796.
[caption id="attachment_9348" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A defaced portrait of Robert Burns. The culprits have never been identified."][/caption]
The man, the myth, the legend that was Robert Burns has become a larger-than-life character since his passing 235 years ago. He has this Single Malt as well as the Robert Burns Blended Scotch bearing his name. His birthday on January 25th is celebrated world 'round with Burns Suppers, Scotch Tastings and Festivals. Haggis, Kilts, and bagpipes are typically involved to some degree, lest you forget he was Scottish.
This is great because we Scotch Whisky lovers the world over are always keen to:
pretend we are Scottish, either directly or by ancestry.
put on a poorly conceived and likely Sean Connery-influenced Scottish accent.
have a reason for whisky drinking and general debauchery beyond it being "just another Tuesday".
The festivities typically center around Robert Burns' famous "Address to the Haggis", a poem typically recited in old Scots Gaelic for true authenticity and showing that yes, you can indeed write poetry about pretty much any object you find sitting around.
All of this general silliness is nearly always fun and festive and our hearts and livers are in a good place in playing along with it all. If we get out of hand, that can hardly be blamed on Robert Burns itself.
Now, onto the producers of the Robert Burns Single Malt - which is officially endorsed W...
Day 7 of the 2019 KWM Whisky Calendar - Inchmoan 12 Year
Posted on November 7, 2021
by EvanI have been looking forward to this one. If you have come to any of our recent Scotch Malt Whisky Society Outturn Tastings, or have previously read my blog post for Day One of this year's KWM Whisky Calendar, you know that I have been enjoying the bottlings from Loch Lomond. Today, we get to try the heavily peated end of the spectrum from the distillery with Inchmoan 12 Year Old.
As mentioned on Day One, Loch Lomond Distillery distills a multitude of different styles of spirit thanks to operating a variety of stills. Another point worth mentioning that goes along with this: Loch Lomond also uses a total of three different types of yeast in fermenting the malt. The yeast used is selected based on the style they are looking to create. They of course use a Distiller's Yeast, which does have different strains but is typically meant to be high yield when it comes to converting sugars to alcohol in the mash. The other two yeasts used are actually meant for wine fermentation though, including one typically used for Chardonnay grapes. The bottom line for all of this is that no matter how strange you think Loch Lomond might be, they have found even more ways to be confounding that we probably don't even know about yet.
Enough of that for now. On Day One we tasted the lighter, fruitier side of Loch Lomond with the Inchmurrin 18 Year Old. Inchmoan as a style is typically distilled in a similar fashion to Inchmurrin by utilising the straight necked Lomond Pot Stills, but using a heavily peated malt. When it comes to official bottles of Inchmoan such as the one we will be tasting, Loch Lomond is likely using other peated styles that it creates as well to round out the style it is looking for. That means that this bottling could also two other peated styles from the distillery, including Croftengea and perhaps Craiglodge.
The name Inchmoan comes from and Island in the freshwater Loch Lomond. It is low-lying and contains marsh area, woods and grassland. It was once a source of peat fuel for the nearby village of Luss. It is currently privately owned but parts of the small island are used by campers and as a picnic area.
As with the Inchmurrin 18 Year Old, unfortunately the full-sized bottles of this are not yet available in Alberta. If you enjoy the mini and are interested in a full bottle, please contact us and will hound the agent to see what we can do about stocking it in the future.
Inchmoan 12 Year Old
This is a blend of three peated styles distilled in the swan-necked pot stills and straight necked Lomond stills at Loch Lomond Distillery. The whisky within is matured in a combination of ex-Bourbon casks and re-charred American Oak. Bottled at 46% ABV.
Evan's Tasting Note
Nose: Toasty Oak and orange oils, wood smoke, fennel, fruit leather, Orange Pekoe tea, beer nuts, pipe tobacco, hi...
Scotch Malt Whisky Society of Canada December 2019 Outturn
Posted on November 7, 2021
by EvanGetting close to the end here.
Of 2019 I mean. December is here. The tree and the lights are up. The kids are working their way through their chocolate-filled Advent Calendars. The adults are working on their 2019 KWM Whisky Advent Calendars (and so am I). Both the young and the young-at-heart in the family are trying to avoid the temptation of binge-imbibing their way to an early Christmas. We must have patience, for the holidays will arrive soon enough.
Luckily we have a new batch of seven Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottles just released to help us bide our time. This round has some very interesting bottles, and also some very well-priced buys. Five of the bottles in this lineup weigh in at $160 bucks.ca or less. Only one bottle is priced at over $200.
So, lets break that perforated cut out and pull open the tiny door to take a peak at what is inside the December SMWS Canada Outturn:
Continuing the spate of flavourful bottles in what is oft called the 'death spot' for whiskies in a tasting is A FRUITY FOOL. This is indeed a vibrant, fruit forward and lush whisky with some sip to it. Definitely a great one to start the tasting with, and very well priced for a 15 year old single cask as well.
Joining in on the fruit forward trend is DONNING THE NIGHT CAP, which is a wonderfully expressive spice and red fruit driven eight year old from distillery number 9. It reminds me of a gorgeous G&M bottling that we had from the same distillery a few years back, but at cask strength.
Number three in the lineup was softer, but oilier and more complex versus the first two. A REAL SHOWSTOPPER is a 13 year old that is fruity and malty with a delicate herbal note showing up in a delightful manner.
Next up is our first SMWS bottle from Distillery number 1 in a long, long time. Possibly more than two years if my memory serves (though it rarely does)? KEPT IN THE DARK is a young, high-octane and not heavily-sherried single cask from the makers of the 105 Cask Strength. In fact, it would be fun to do a side by side compare and contrast between those two bottles side by side...
Every bottle in this Outturn shows of as unique and different than the rest, but possibly none more so than BANANA FLAMBE. This Rum from Diamond Distillery in Guyana is a classically lush, dense, rich, molasses-driven British-style rum. It also comes at a relatively approachable cask strength - at least when compared to a few previous SMWS Rum offerings that have been well north of 60% ABV.
From there we went onto the oldest bottling from SMWS distillery number 66 that we have seen in a while with DEEP, RICH AND BURNT FRUIT. This is one of those crazy 66's that somehow manages to be full of rich barley but also tight and minerality driven - ...
Day 6 of the 2019 KWM Whisky Calendar - The Epicurean
Posted on July 15, 2025
by EvanDay six brings us another change in style. In the past two days we went from Kentucky Bourbon to Single Cask Single Malt Scotch. Now, we enter the territory of Blended Malt Scotch with The Epicurean.
Douglas Laing is an independent bottler that was founded in 1948 by Fred Douglas Laing after he acquired the rights for the King Of Scots Blend. Fred and his wife had two sons. Fred Hamilton Laing was born in 1950. Stewart Hunter Laing was born in 1947 or 1948. Both brothers eventually joined their father, working at Douglas Laing. Before that though, they both had apprenticeships at other Scotch Whisky companies, something that seems to be a hallmark of families who make Scotch Whisky their trade.
Fred Hamilton Laing's first apprenticeship was at Whyte and Mackay starting in 1968, where he learned all parts of whisky production and business, including the art of blending. From there he moved to White Horse Distillers in 1969 to further enhance his blending knowledge. In 1972 he officially joined his Father, Fred Sr., at the family business of Douglas Laing. In 1982, Fred Jr's daughter Cara was born.
Fred Sr., AKA Fred Douglas Laing, passed away in 1984, and it was then up to his sons to run the company.
(The Moustache, accompanied by its owner; Fred Hamilton Laing)
Fred Jr. and Stewart, for some reason, are famous for not getting along. It could be familial, it could be ideological, perhaps it was Fred Jr's curious choices made in the care and feeding of his moustache. Who knows. Probably a mixture of all three. They managed to run the company together for nearly 20 years after their father's passing, but in 2013 the amicably split the company in two and went their separate ways.
Hunter Laing is the result of a split of the Douglas Laing Company and its assets between brothers Fred and Stewart in 2013. Apparently, the had a long history of not getting along with each other. In the dividing of the company, The new Hunter Laing, which was set up by Stewart and joined by his two sons, Andrew and Scott, retained the Old Malt Cask brand. Hunter Laing has since built it's first distillery - Ardnahoe - which resides on Islay on the road towards Bunnahabhain Distillery.
Douglas Laing continued on, operating under Fred Jr's stewardship to this day. They have created some new labels since, focusing more on the Blends and Blended Malt side of things than Hunter Laing typically does. Fred Laing was joined by his daughter Cara and her husband Chris Leggat at about the same time as the split.
The Douglas Laing company announced the acquisition its first distillery very recently, on October 24th of 2019. The Strathearn Distillery, founded in 2013, is located near Methven in Perthshire. Technically located in the Southern Highlands, it is near the lowlands region and about an...
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