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SMWS Canada January 2019 Outturn

Posted on January 8, 2019

by Evan

Happy New Year Everybody!

2018 seemed to fly by at a speed causing sonic shockwaves, becoming past history faster than it ever was present. Now, we are back, feet on the ground, in early 2019. New year to live in, new whisky to taste our way through. As it should be. Take a deep breath, allow yourself a quick stretch, then hop back aboard and buckle in once more for another spin around the sun. The pace of it all can be dizzying to be sure - that is why you should make time to sit back and relax every now and then. Is there a better way to do so than with seven new green bottles filled with cask strength goodness? I doubt it, and if there is I don't really want to know about it anyhow.

The first Outturn of 2019 brings us a plethora of refill barrels and hogsheads, but a surprising amount variety as well. You would think that all of these once or twice (or more?!) used casks would give us a lot of bland and plain whisky, but they definitely do not. Variety and nuance can be found in this Outturn. Here is a peek at what is on the docket for SMWS Canada bottles this month:

The lowest ABV in this bunch weighs in at 53.1% ABV, and only one bottle is just barely north of 60% ABV. This is no tame SMWS lineup, but it won't burn your nose hairs too much either.
No cask finishes in the Outturn this month, although one of the refill casks is a re-charred hogshead. This means that after the refill hoggy was emptied, it was then scraped and burnt with fire once more in an effort to refresh the cask before being filled again. Re-charred casks can give some unique and interesting qualities to the whisky in my limited experience, sometimes offering a more concentrated and heavily steeped tea-like character to the whisky.
Instead of starting the tasting with something from Speyside - the first TWO bottles were distilled in the Highlands. In fact, Highland malts actually outnumber those from Speyside by 3-2, which almost never happens in SMWS Canada Outturns.
Rounding out the lineup, region-wise, is an always-welcome Campbeltown malt and a lone bottle from Islay.
Age-wise our bottles run from 8 to 24 years-old for the January 2019 Outturn, giving us both the brashness of youth on one end and a more refined and confident style on the other.
We have one new SMWS Canada distillery number - possibly two depending on how technical you want to get!

The main new number is 68.12 - Blair Athol is a Diageo-owned Highland distillery that has been around since 1798, but is not seen in official bottles other than very occasional special releases. Most of the whisky produced here goes into Bell's blended Scotch, which it has been a core part of since the brand's inception in 1933.
The other bottle is more of a curiosity: 135.4 is part of what could be dubbed the SMWS / Loch Lomond fracture - in which the Society decided to get much more technic...

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The 25 Best Selling Whiskies of 2018 - KWM's Whisky Year in Review

Posted on October 25, 2024



by Evan

As we gently dip our toes into a new year, it is both a time to look forward and a time to look back. I cannot tell you all of what 2019 will bring for whisky here at Kensington Wine Market. Sure, you can pretty much guarantee there will be another KWM Whisky Advent Calendar, but what about upcoming single casks and exclusives? Some we can't talk about yet, as the stock isn't here or the pricing isn't finalized. Some, we haven't even selected yet.

So instead, let us cast our gaze back to 2018 and take a look at the year that was. Andrew commanded suggested we do a write-up revealing our top 25 best-selling whiskies of 2018. The idea sounded like a good way to keep my job fun, so I went to work on what became the overly verbose, unruly, lumbering beast full of links and ideas that you see below.

If you look at our list below, along with a list of the best-selling whiskies from around the world, you might be perplexed. Can this really be our shop's list of best sellers? How is it that this list doesn't include even one single bottle from the five top-selling single malts or twenty top-selling whiskies in the world?

This is what makes our shop different from other wine, beer and whisky retailers out there: We do carry much of what the big brands have to offer, but our primary focus is selling the more exclusive and unique styles and bottles that you might not be able to find elsewhere. That is why many of our own, specially selected, KWM single casks and store exclusives make up this list.

Sadly, some of these best-selling bottles are now out of stock. I have provided a few alternative options to these sold out bottles where possible. This is the nature and one potential downside to single casks and small batches. It is also part of what makes them so exciting and fun. The uniqueness of each cask is what draws us in, and that is a big reason why we spend a lot of time and effort searching for new casks to bring in.

25 - Benromach 10-Year-Old 100 Proof

This higher proof version of the already excellent Benromach 10 year is amazing and very well-priced for what you get. Springbank 12 year cask strength hunters, which are consistently disappointed that it is so sought after and nearly always sold out, should take note of this bottle if they have not already, as there are some similarities in style. Get it while you can! Bottled at 57% ABV or 100 British Proof, this bottling is sadly being phased out in favour of a cask strength Benromach. Here's hoping it is just as good!

24 - Elements of Islay Peat Cask Strength / Full Proof

One of a duo (and sometimes a trifecta) of very good and inexpensive high-strength and heavily peated blended malts from Islay. This 500mL bottle of Blended Malt packs a punch at 59.3% ABV. This is also a great whisky for ...

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Merry Mex-mas! A festive Mezcal Tasting

Posted on December 29, 2018

by Shawn

Now I’m not sure how many people pick Mezcal as their go-to drink come winter time. I mean, it’s eggnog and rum and brandy season after all. Not to mention Peaty whisky season, but what about the other smoky spirit? I can’t say I like mezcal better than peated whisky... Do you have a favourite child? They are both so different, there is absolutely room in my heart for both. That being said though, I did want to bring some attention and love to mezcal in the offseason, because A) its popularity is still rising in our lovely city, and B) It’s the Christmas season, and I’m all in for unique gifts and giving people things they themselves have no idea if they’ll enjoy (but come on… for mezcal, they have to like it right?).

Ok, so showcase some different producers and different agaves, various price points, but forget that barreled crap (it simply kills the beauty of Joven mezcal). To further showcase the versatility of the spirit I can make a couple of cocktails, and bing bang boom, we’ve got ourselves a tasting! Oh, snap… food. Luckily our neighbours and kindred spirits Peasant Cheese is always there to make up some beautiful boards full of cheats, cheese, maybe add some chips and salsa, orange slices (gotta be authentic!) just to seal the deal. Alright, I think that’s everything! That along with 20 or so thirsty guests. Here we go!



To start off the evening, I wanted to prime palates, and give the mezcal rookies a taste of what sort of flavours they should anticipate along with an example of how you can simply substitute this into your favourite cocktail with beautiful results. I chose the Tom Collins because it’s relatively simple to prepare(I’ve only got like an hour and a half to work with here), it’s crisp, acidic, with a hint of sweetness, all of which go so incredibly well with Mezcal smoke.

The recipe goes as such:
- 1 Part simple syrup
- 2 Part fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice
- 3 Parts Mezcal (preferably Joven)
-Dash of Lavender bitters
Combine ingredients, pour over ice and fill the glass with about 4-5 parts soda. Drink, then repeat.

After wetting our whistles, it was time to indulge in the main course. A selection of premium mezcals from various agave varietals and producers.



Bruxo 0 Receta Inicial Espadin: The name means “Initial recipe”, and is a worthy Mezcal for both the uninitiated and the those who’d like to relax and enjoy a finger or two of a worry-free Mezcal. Bottled at about 37% abv, this 100% Espadin showcases generous agave sweetness along with a mellow semi-vegetal smoke. Bananas and lychees accompany the creamy body and linger just slightly into the ashy finish.
Price: $54.99

Mezcal Agua Santa: We follow up with another easy drinki...

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Merry Christmas! - KWM Advent 2018 Day 25 - SMWS 72.65 - Winter Comforts

Posted on December 9, 2021

by Evan

Merry Christmas!

The gifts are unwrapped. The tree is tipped over.

The buzzy caffeine from that 50/50 mix of Irish cream and coffee you thought was going to get your through the day is starting to wear off.

The kids are occupied with that favourite new toy that Santa brought them. It will be lost, broken, or forgotten about by the end of the week but for now, the noise it makes is jarring and insidious. If it keeps up you may have to start actively plotting the toy's early demise.

You find yourself blearily sitting in a cushy chair, intermittently nodding at a conversation happening between relatives of yours sitting on the other side of the room. As survival tactics go, this one will work perfectly until one of them asks you a direct question that cannot be answered with an enigmatic affirmative.

There was something else you were supposed to be doing right now. If you could only remember what.

Suddenly, you remember that the best gift of all still has one door left to open...



Christmas is all about tradition. Yesterday I mentioned the KWM single cask Kilchoman being a bit of a KWM Whisky Advent Calendar tradition. Well, here is another that we started four years ago: The larger 100mL bottle for Day 25, from one of our favourite independent bottlers: the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.



The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is the world’s largest whisky club, and also an independent bottler. As a club, it has close to 30,000 members all over the world, and branches in close to 20 different countries. It is an independent bottler that has been six times accorded the honour of Independent Bottler of the Year by Whisky Magazine over the past nine years.

It bottles as broad a range of single cask, single malt Scotch whiskies as any other firm, and it doesn’t stop there. It has also bottle Japanese whiskies, Bourbon, Grain whisky, Cognac, Armagnac, Rum, and Gin. Whether it is a whisky or another spirit, the Society always bottles the spirit from a single cask, straight from the cask, Unfiltered. Undiluted. Unrivalled.

[caption id="attachment_7908" align="aligncenter" width="640" caption="SMWS Canada - Spirits Release from May 2018"][/caption]

It was a big year for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society - it turned 35 years old, having been officially founded back in 1983. The Canada Chapter of the SMWS also celebrated its own milestone, turning seven years old back in October of this year. Kensington Wine Market is proud to be the original home of the Society in Canada, and its exclusive retailer in Southern Alberta and all parts east of Calgary. Over the last seven years, we have introduced more than 550 bottles to more than a thousand Canadian membe...

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KWM Advent 2018 Day 24 - Kilchoman 100% Islay KWM Cask 10 Year

Posted on December 7, 2021

by Evan



Image courtesy of @frombarreltobottle

This bottle may not be an incredible surprise to those of you that have tasted your way through one of our KWM Whisky Advent Calendars in years' past. We have quite a history of putting a KWM single barrel Kilchoman in the Calendar at this point - in fact, this is the fourth KWM Kilchoman to be featured in as many years! And last year on this very same day of Advent we celebrated with a 50mL bottle of our very first 10-year-old single cask Kilchoman. It was a stunner, ranking for me personally like the best Kilchoman that I had ever tasted. The full-sized bottles are long since sold out but we do have a few minis left of that amazing cask. Does this year's bottling stand up? We shall have to see...


Kilchoman Distillery was founded in 2005, the same year both Ardbeg and Laphroaig turned 190 years old. It was the first distillery to be built on the fabled island of Islay in more than a century. It is no longer the new kid on the block though - Ardnahoe Distillery started production just last Month, making it the ninth, and currently youngest, operating distillery on Islay.

Kilchoman is further inland than most Islay distilleries, residing on Rockside Farm. It is also the only distillery on the island to malt some of the barley from its very own farm, as Rockside now has the same owner. Most of the malt used by Kilchoman comes from Port Ellen Maltings and is peated to the same spec as Ardbeg's (about 50ppm). Things are different when Kilchoman uses its own floor maltings and its own barley, however. Using their own maltings they typically create a malt peated to about 20ppm. They don't have the means to produce all of their own malt; currently, they are able to produce a little less than a third of their malt requirement this way. Bottlings of Kilchoman made entirely of their own malt are typically labelled '100% Islay'. That brings us to today's Whisky Advent bottle.

We have a good amount of history with this relatively young Islay distillery. This is now our 7th exclusive KWM single cask of Kilchoman. It is also our most unique, and not because it is 10 years old... we already had one of those! It is our first KWM exclusive cask of Kilchoman's 100% Islay. Distilled on August 21st, 2008, the whisky was bottled on August 21st, 2018 at exactly 10 years of age. Only 209 total bottles were filled at a cask strength of  56.6% ABV after maturing entirely in Ex-Bourbon.

100% Islay is a whisky that Kilchoman produces from its own barley; grown, malted, mashed, fermented, distilled, matured and bottled on-site. This is farm-to-bottle whisky, with 100% of the production taking place at Rockside Farm. Kilchoman refers to it as Islay's only "Single Farm Single Malt". The 100% Islay style of malt...

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