Boutique-y Clynelish 20 Year KWM Cask
$175.99
It is finally here... we have been teasing and talking about this whisky for months, and it was worth the wait. We are thrilled to introduce you to our first ever KWM exlcusive single cask from That Boutique-y Whisky Company. Although the bottle doesn't explicitly tell you which "Highland" distillery the whisky is from, there are clues on the label... 578 bottles have been filled exclusively for Kensington Wine Market at 51%. But we have nothing holding us back from telling you that Boutique-y Highland #2 is Clynelish... That's right, this is 20 year old Clynelish!
Andrew's Note on the Whisky & Label
Could that be a cat in the clouds, a Wild Highland Cat perhaps? Is it not strange to see a waxy candle-powered balloon? Incidentally, it is lifting the KWM whisky team aloft. And what of the monument? If we told you it was a controversial monument near the town of Golspie dedicated to the infamous Duke of Sutherland, would that give you all the information you need to know? What Highland Distillery has a Wild Highland Cat as its symbol, a waxy profile, and an infamous Duke as its founder?
This label is a cheeky take on a shared memory, with embellishments, embedded details, and Easter eggs, in the tradition of the best Boutique-y Whisky Company Labels. More importantly, it tells a story, which is personally important to my family. My mother was born into the Clann Gunn in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Her ancestors roamed swaths of what is now Caithness and Sutherland in northern Scotland. That is until they were compelled to leave Scotland in the late 18th century, cruelly and rudely displaced to make way for sheep during the early days of the Highland Clearances.
On the label there is a ship at sea, heading to Canada presumably, as hinted at by the flags (the Canadian flag as it is today was only introduced in 1965). On the flat coastal plain at the base of the mountains sheep can be seen grazing. In front of the monument stand a pair of Canadians stand in hockey jerseys. Sam Simmons, Head of Whisky at Atom Brands, and a native Torontonian, stands closest to the monument in what appears to be a hockey jersey. Further back, a native Calgarian, yours truly can be seen waving a white hat, an iconic symbol of "Cowtown", whilst sporting a local hockey team jersey of his own. In the balloon Keith, Evan, Shawn & Curt can be seen waving at Andrew & Sam below. Speaking of those two, what are they doing atop Ben Bhraggie? Funny story that.
When TBWC offered us this cask of Highland Malt, they asked us what we wanted on the label, and I had a cheeky idea. In 2006 I made my first trip to Scotland, and on that trip, I hiked up Ben Bhraggie, a small mountain (really a foothill by Canadian standards) to see the monument of the infamous Duke. Someone had spraypainted the word "Monster" in neon green at the base. When I was sure no one was looking I dropped trow and relieved myself on it. I sent Sam an email of this tale, my connection to the area and my idea for the label. I was sure it was just a little too edgy...
Minutes later my phone was ringing... it was 3 AM in the UK, but Sam wanted to make sure I had seen his reply. He too had hiked Ben Bhraggie in 2005, and he had also paid his own respects to the infamous Duke of Sutherland...
One last little nugget, Keith, who is a personal trainer and headed to Beijing as a Team Canada Skeleton coach, felt his arm didn't look appropriately burly, in an early draft of the label. So we had the artist, Emily Chappell, 'bugs bunny' his arm... In case it isn't already apparent, nothing is sacred (especially when it comes to The Duke of Sutherland and Keith's pipes)!
And the rest as they say is history. On the back of every bottle, That Boutique-y Whisky Company includes the following text: "We are passionate about great whisky, we don't take ourselves too seriously and we LOVE a good story." No wonder these chaps are such a great fit to work with!
Boutique-y Irish SM #2 Batch 6 15 Year
$110.99
These Irish single malts have been some of our favorite releases from That Boutique-y Whisky Company. The 13- and 14-year-olds were delicious and juicy fruit bombs. This new 15-year old-Irish single malt (from the same distillery as the previous two releases) was bottled at at 50.2% and limited to just 1,900 bottles.
And if you're one of those folks sleuthing your way through the Boutique-y labels, here's the deets on this one (from the producer):
"Aeneas Coffey was the Irishman who improved upon Robert Stein's column stills and patented his own Coffey (say 'coffee') Still in 1830. His new, more efficient piece of kit was soon adopted all around the world, except, ironically, in Ireland. In fact, the Irish* told him to jog on! They were understandably rather attached to their pot stills and the full flavoured single malts and single pot still whiskeys they produced.
(* represented here by ambassadors James Goggin (TBWC), Liam Sparks (Irish Distillers) and Kevin Hurley (Teeling) as well as Bán Poitín's Dave Mulligan, Irish spirits fanatic Charlie McCarthy and Ableforth's own wild goose Lee Peare."
Boutique-y Irish SM #1 Batch 3 13 Year
$124.99
Mystery Irish Single Malt Whiskey huh... could this be Cooley-aid?
Producer Description: "Our third batch from this undisclosed Irish distillery is a 13 Year Old, a release of just 1,726 bottles at 46.8% abv. If you know your Irish Whiskey history, then you should be able to close down on the distilleries this could come from."
About the Label (Larger Label Under the Tasting Note)
"The inspiration for this label comes straight out of a British made sitcom called ‘Father Ted’ It originally aired on Channel 4 from April 1995 and ran for just three series up until May 1998 Set on the fictional Craggy Island, a remote location off Ireland's west coast, the show is about three priests exiled on the island for various past incidents. Our label comes from an episode called ‘A Song for Europe’ that featured ‘My lovely Horse’."
G&M Generations Glenlivet 80 Year
$98,000.00
ONE BOTTLE SOLD, & ONE BOTTLE LEFT... IN THE WORLD! - Bottle #121 Available!
This was the oldest bottle of whisky ever bottled, for a little over a year and a haldf, and it is exclusive to KWM in Alberta! Only 4 of the 250 decanters produced are destined for Canada. Distilled February 3rd, 1940, at the Glenlivet Distillery, the whisky was filled into a First Fill Sherry Butt, and matured 80 years before botlling on February 5, 2020, at 44.9%. It isn't inexpensive, but it is stunning, and beautifully presented! 93pts Angus @ Whisky Fun!
We launched exclusively in Canada, a sister cask, the Gordon & Macphail Generations Glenlivet 70 Year around a decade ago. Details on our archive!
Producer Description: "On 3rd February 1940 in a quiet corner in the north of Scotland, George Urquhart and his father, John, had the extraordinary foresight and vision to lay down spirit from Glenlivet Distillery in a bespoke Gordon & MacPhail cask to be enjoyed by future generations.
"On 5th February 2020, leaning on the unique skill and experience acquired by over more than 125 years, the decision was taken to finally bottle the cask’s precious out-turn of 250 decanters."
Arran 2013 KWM Sherry Cask 930
$112.49
This Arran KWM Cask was featured on Day 9 of our 2023 KWM Whisky Calendar. You can find Evan's blog post on this bottle here
Our 13th KWM exclusive single cask of Arran (16th if you count a couple of shared bottlings with a local club,) was filled into a Sherry Butt Cask #930 on the 14th of May 2013, and was bottled after 9 years on March 7, 2023, at 58.2%. We've bottled lots of Sherry Hoggies of Arran, but I think this is our first ever Butt, and there are 516 total bottles!
Berry's Bowmore 1997 KWM Cask
$734.99
How could we turn down the opportunity to bottle another cask of Bowmore, we've only ever bottled one before... This 26 year old from our friends at Berry Bros. & Rudd was filled into a sherry butt (cask #85) in 1997, and was bottled at a natural cask strength of 46.1% in 2023, exclusively for yours truly! There are only 98 total bottles... Sister casks to this bottling have done well on Whiskybase and WhiskyFun (89-91pts). Only 98 bottles!
Canals Nadal Cava Brut Nature Reserva
$23.99
Floral and fruity on the nose, the flavours emphasize apple, pear and peach. Soft, elegant and good value, too! Enjoy this awesome Cava with appetizers, seafood, or Sunday brunch!
A Kensington Wine Market exclusive! Cava is Spain's answer to Champagne, and the country's winemakers made a sparkling international success out of it! In Penedes, the wine region near Barcelona, Cava is made the same way as the French bubbly but with different grapes including Macabeo, Xarel-lo and Parellada.
G&M CC Bladnoch 1988 KWM Cask #2107
$1,189.99
This bottle was featured on Day 23 of our 2023 KWM UBER Whisky Calendar. You can read the post on it here.
Once again our friends at Gordon & MacPhail have outdone themselves by offering us the opportunity to bottle this gorgeous cask. At 33 years of age, this 1988 vintage Bladnoch is the oldest KWM exclusive cask we have had the privilege of bottling since our Berry's 40-Year Blend more than 5 years ago. Filled into a Refill Sherry Hogshead on August 17, 1988, there were only 53 bottles left in the cask when it was bottled on the 21st of July, 2022 at 54.1%. A sister cask to this whisky, filled on the same day, is currently scoring 89.43pts on Whiskybase. I expect ours is even better!
This is another one of those KWM casks, where prior to sampling the whisky, Andrew said there was no way we were going to buy a full cask at that price. But the whisky is stunning, and when it was sampled by the KWM whisky team we knew we had to have it. It didn't hurt that the cask had only 53 bottles of liquid left in it at the time of bottling... those are some greedy angels!
Berry's Tobermory 2008 KWM Cask
$119.99
Distilled in 2008, this 13-14-year-old Tobermory was matured in a Sherry Butt, cask 900166, before bottling at an impressive 64.8%. This is our first ever single cask of Tobermory, and it is a massive and sherried coastal dram! 504 bottles in total.
A missive from Evan on this bottle, and Tobermory in general:
The spirit distilled by Tobermory typically falls into the sabre-rattling love-it or leave-it categories with most whisky fans. There is no middle ground: a vast and barren no man's land keeps these conflicting groups apart. As you would guess, I am well-dug into the trenches on the love-it side of the battlefield. So is my comrade in arms; Harmony. She and I happily spread the good word of Tobermory and Ledaig with evangelistic fervour to all who would listen. Sadly, Curt and Andrew - being the philistines they are - have found less to enjoy from this remarkable island distillery. Keen to wallow in their closed-minded wrong-headedness, they spend much of their spare time rabble-rousing and lobbing insults at us from the safety of their pathetic ditch across the way.
Amazingly, this specific and singular single-cask of Tobermory has managed to create a sort of detente, with the four of us being so utterly impressed by the cask sample we tasted of this that we had to have it for the store. Andrew's own tasting notes mention something akin to Ledaig simmering in the depths of the high-octane liquid (64.8% ABV!). I believe he means that as a compliment. If that is true, then it is truly shocking, but I have no choice but to agree! We are all glad we selected this single cask, which is unpeated but bursting with flavour nonetheless.
Scroll down to find my tasting notes which are sure to provide you with even more reason to join Harmony and me on the front lines, fighting the good fight and defending against any haters. For, this isn't just another bottle of whisky: it is a rallying cry meant to be taken up by all Tobermory lovers everywhere!