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Scotch Malt Whisky Society of Canada June 2017 Outturn

Posted on June 5, 2017



The beginning of June is already upon us and that means it is time for the June Outturn from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of Canada. This is a fun Outturn with a lineup full of big and vibrant flavour from seven different distilleries - only one of which is owned by Diageo! We tasted our way through five Speyside distilleries and two more from Highland Islands.

The June 2017 Outturn also features the first SMWS bottle sold exclusively to us in Canada. This is the first SMWS bottle that was not sold anywhere else in the world. We Canadians managed to get the entire barrel!

SMWS 41.78 - POKER NIGHT WHISKY was originally exclusively available in the Kensington Wine Market 2016 Whisky Advent Calendar. It was the 100mL December 25th/Christmas Day Advent bottle. It was due to our partnership with the Scotch Malt Whisky Society of Canada that we were able to make this happen. We had to wait a little longer to see the full sized bottles of this whisky but with the release of the June Outturn, we now have both the full sized and 100mL bottles available while supplies last!



June also includes some incredible deals on some great whisky: The 2nd most expensive bottle in this is Outturn is only $144.99!

In the summer months of June, July, and August the SMWS Canada typically has only six new releases a month instead of the standard seven. This allows us to revisit it a bottle from a previous outturn - and we did just that with the fourth taste of the night.

But enough of my pontificating. Let's get to the bottles themselves!
Cheers,
Evan

Here is the Outturn in the order we tasted them in:



35.173: FALLING IN LOVE IN AN INSTANT - $144.99
After 14 years in a 1st fill barrel this Speysider comes in at 57.9%
Flavour profile: Juicy, oak & vanilla
Outturn: 222 bottles
Panel's tasting note: "Fresh, lively, sweet, charming, attractive and very engaging, 'might even be love at first nose'. Aromas of custard caramel doughnuts, vanilla Chantilly cream, honey poached peaches and fresh strawberries with mint ice cream - we really wanted to get to know this one. Beautiful mouthfeel; like a tropical fruit medley underneath the palm trees at sunset with sweet crunchy honeycomb covered in slightly bitter dark chocolate melting in your mouth. Let’s discover this further with a drop of water; even sweeter, even smoother, even more succulent – if that is at all possible! - and a teasing little spice tingled our taste buds."
Drinking tip: "Just the two of us at sunset"

41.78: POKER NIGHT WHISKY - $129.99

41.78: POKER NIGHT WHISKY 100mL - $21.99

This 11-year-old Speysider was matured in a 1st fill barrel and comes in at 60.4%
Flavour profile: Young & spritely
Outturn: 114 bottles
Panel's tast...

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New Beer for the week of June 1st, 2017

Posted on June 10, 2017

Hello beer fans!
I’m back with one more quick update before you get your weekend started. Just a short note regarding a few more new arrivals this week, current growler pours, and a new community support initiative from Village brewing, so here we go!



Being a very community oriented business, Village has reached out to local community associations in a generous way! Until August 31st of this summer, donate the receipts from your Village beer purchases (this can be done in-store) and the West Hillhurst community association will receive 15% back in donations! This is a fantastic opportunity to quench your thirst AND help out your community!

Ok, now onto some beer! Here are the new products, growler pours, and some sale products!

Lemon and Lime Kettle Sour by Blindman: Lightly sweet, lightly tart, with big lemon and lime notes all over the place! This is perhaps both one of the best patio beers for this summer and a fantastic Radler replacement for those looking for something different! ($14.39 for a 4-pack of cans)

Saison du Parc by Dieu du Ciel: As always with Dieu du Ciel's limited releases, you won't want to miss this tropical fruity and spicy saison. Notes of passionfruit, pineapple and citrus all rest on a wonderful grainy bed with light funk and spice notes, with a lively carbonation. ($16.29 for a 4-pack of bottles)

Tart n’ Juicy sour IPA by Epic: Tart, crisp and zingy sour combined with a fruity and nearly bold IPA! Epic brings you the best of these two awesome styles with Tart n’ Juicy. The single can format is perfect to bring on a hike to quench your thirst! ($4.49 for a 355mL can)

On the ol’Growler bar, I’m pouring these goodies(until they are gone that is!):
-Coronado Seacoast Pilsner
-Trolley 5 High Fives IPA
-Four Winds Pale Ale
-Powell Street Hop Hash IIPA

And finally, there are some remnant sale items from our big birthday sale, and for a limited time, you can still take advantage of these savings! These include select beers from Stone(25% off), The Bruery(up to 25% off), Still meads (20% off), Tilquin Quetsche (20% off), Rogue (15% off), La Trappe (25% off), Dunham beers (15% off) and Stillwater beers (15% off).

That should keep you busy through the weekend right? Stay tuned next week for another post, and more beer!

Cheers!

Shawn

beerguy@kensingtonwinemarket.com

Twitter: @ShawnsBrewsCGY...

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New Beer For the week of May 25th, 2017

Posted on May 29, 2017

Ok, ok, so I think after this post, I'm about caught up with all the new products after weeks of sales and tastings and general hoo-hah. This is a massive post with 20-something beers, so keep reading and forget what I'm saying.
The new beers for these past couple of weeks!
Belle Royale Kriek by Driftwood: Canadian kriek! We need it... I need it, in my mouth. Tart cherries with mild coffee, caramel and spice-like notes on a decently sour base. ($15.69 for a 650mL bottle)
Schank’d it by Alley Kat: A light, crisp, tart and refreshing Berliner Weisse is the latest from Edmonton's Alley Kat. Crisp and fruity, with hibiscus and light crackery malt.($8.59 for a 650mL bottle)
Beach Comber by Village: Big citrusy "left coast" IPA. Grapefruit and tropical tang are supported by a moderately sweet malty base. Bitter and refreshing. ($9.39 for a 650mL bottle)
Stickee Monkee by Firestone Walker: Belgian quad-ish beer, spending time in a barrel, and monstrously rich with sweet malts, and both turbinado and Belgian candi sugars. Dense molasses and dried fruit notes accompany the spicy and vanilla rich oak nicely. ($33.99 for a 650mL bottle)
Helldorado by Firestone Walker: Helldorado is a big barley wine with some elegant character! Decently sweet, but lighter than you’d expect. Big vanilla with honey and light floral notes keep things on the delicate side, but still… it’s a big beer! ($33.99 for a 650mL bottle)
Cast Iron Coffee Stout by Wild Rose: The Cast Iron is a medium-to-full, complex coffee stout that spent the best of its months in bourbon barrels. Lightly sweet with big vanilla, boozy bourbon, coffee and cacao.($12.29 for a 750mL bottle)
Stingray IPA by Coronado: A big citrusy IIPA that is surprisingly easy to drink! Big tropical hop aromas with the flavours to match! Along with big citrus and a good, and firm malty foundation. ($9.59 for a 650mL bottle)
Paradise Pucker by Rogue Ales: Big and fruity, and big tartness to boot. American-style sour ale with Passionfruit, Orange and Guava added to give a huge fruity punch that isn’t too sweet for the warm weather! ($10.79 for a 650mL bottle)
Radical Summer Breeze Radler By Yukon: Gotta love a craft radler! bright lemon tones first and foremost, but not overpowering. Malty beer undertones with a refreshing sourness. ($8.49 for a 650mL bottle)

Guava Islander IPA by Coronado: A classic style west coast IPA with an island twist. Guava puree comes in to mingle with the fruity notes of west coast hops. Grapefruity with a pithy bitterness, with bright guava tones behind it and all throughout. ($5.79 for a 355mL can)
Ponderosa Gose by Wild Rose: Refreshing in a glass! A tart, light and lightly salted wheat beer made with passionfruit, and it ain’t messing around. Super quaffable and ever so refreshing, this is one of your go-to beers for the start of the summer! ($12.39 for a 4-pack o...

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Tequila and Mezcal with Hunter

Posted on May 25, 2017

Ah, the classic Mexican beverage drinking celebration that everyone looks forward to and regrets looking back. Is there any way better to celebrate than drinking copious amounts of Corona and Cuervo? Perhaps body shots would make the evening more exciting. Luckily for those with better sense, there was another event in town that offered better Mexican spirits than what is available on the standard back bar. Unfortunately, it was not on the fifth. No, instead it was relegated to the fourth, a day much better than the fifth. This gave the attendees a chance to do it all again the following night if they wished to.
The bottles we poured were of a calibre unlike any other done for the Cinco de Mayo “Spirit Special” at one’s local pub. Here are the spirits we chose to represent Mexico on Cuatro de Mayo.

Tequila Ocho Plata - $69
A small producer creating, in my humblest opinion, some of the most invigorating tequilas on the market. Of the different tequilas I’ve had, Tequila Ocho offers the most high-toned, elegant, perfumed, and complex of tequilas. Such beauty is not to be contained in the glass; the vibrant nose showing delicate floral tones, akin to a stroll through an exotic, equatorial garden. Slightly fleshy on the palate, the essence of succulent plants, clementine orange, and lemon zest perform a delicate dance. This is one of the best Blanco tequilas I have had. The definitive favourite of the night, I could drink this all summer.
Clase Azul Blanco - $115 (Gift Pack Version)
Fatter and more oily than the Ocho, Azul is the big, bad, sweet tooth satisfying tequila that loves to shower the drinker in hedonistic bliss. I can see why this company is so enthralled by the variety of flavorful barrels they use, Azul appears to cater to opulence. The nose is near oceanic, a splash of brine in the background with an oyster like thickness to the palate. Mashed kiwis, dragon fruit and tired starfruit provide a cavalcade of flavours stimulating all sorts of tropical imaginings. Not my favourite - given the opulent nature of this bottlings richness, but nevertheless a crowd pleaser and a favourite of the participants.
Tierra-Noble Reposado - $91
If you have read some of my previous tasting posts, you may be aware that I am not terribly fond of barrel aged agave spirits. Considering the unique nature of agave in contrast to the rest of the world’s grain distillation practices, I usually like to see the spirit in it’s purest expression, generally unaged and uncontaminated by barrel presence. That said, Tierra-Noble did flip my expectations, soothing my complaints. I’m not saying I have changed my mind entirely, instead, I simply believe that Tierra-Noble’s Reposado is done well enough to do both the agave and the barrel justice. To smell, baking pie crust, an interior of golden delicious apples and bits of basil. The herbaceous nature follows to the...

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American (Craft) Whiskey with Evan

Posted on May 25, 2017


With the Whisky and Whiskey boom that we have been seeing for the past decade or so - the landscape of what is available from all parts of the world has been ever-changing and almost continually expanding. New distilleries are coming online at an amazing rate and new bottles hit our shelves with sometimes frightening regularity - only to disappear and be replaced with another new whisky that we may have never seen before.
That is on a worldwide scale. The United States itself is no different - in fact, it is one of the centres of the current landscape of distillery building and new whiskey production that we find ourselves in. You can get a glimpse of what is happening in America through this great list by a gentleman who knows his stuff here.

We don’t get everything that is being produced in America when it comes to whiskey but we are seeing more and more arrive north of the border. With so many new and/or little-known bottles available it is fun to dip in and discover some new possible must have bottles. With that in mind, I selected six relatively new to us American Whiskies (and one favourite of mine that I personally wanted to try again!) and lined them up for a tasting.

Here is what we sampled:


Dad's Hat Pennsylvania Rye Whiskey - $76
Pennsylvania is oft considered the original creator of the Rye Whiskey style that was popular before Bourbon started to make its mark. Sadly, Rye fell by the wayside and so did distilling in this state for quite some time. This fabled style of Rye was called Monongahela-style Rye and originated from farmers in the area around the similarly titled river.
Dad’s Hat Distillery is in Bristol, PA. By US regulations you can call a whiskey rye if you use 51% or more of the grain in your mashbill. Dad’s Hat Rye typically has a mashbill considering of 80% Rye, 15 % malted Rye, and 5% malted Barley. Much of the spirit is put into smaller 15 Gallon (55 Litre) barrels with a number 4 Char (55 seconds of with the inside of the barrel on fire - also sometimes called Alligator Char).

Rough Rider Bourbon - $65
There are some companies that begin with a distillery and then wait to have something to sell. And then there are some that source ready-made barrels of whiskey to sell as there own. With these, it can be difficult to differentiate yourself beyond different packaging - unless you do something different to the whiskey before you release it in your own bottle.

Rough Rider Straight Bourbon Whiskey was distilled in Indiana and bottled by Long Island Spirits of New York. The mash bill for this Bourbon is 60% Corn, 35% Rye, and 5% Malted Barley. After spending at least two years in American Oak casks it is finished in French Oak ex-Chardonnay wine casks that were rinsed/seasoned with high-proof brandy. Bottled at 45% ABV.

Chuckanut Bay Distillery Bourbon - $77
Most B...

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