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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 25: SMWS 108.40

Posted on December 23, 2022

by Evan

We made it! Twenty-four days straight of whisky in small bottles to make that difficult trudge to Christmas Day all the more pleasant and fulfilling. Did it work? Did you find some new favourites? I know I did.

It is fun to take this time to reflect on the Whisky Calendar as a whole. Did some bottles stand out for you? For myself, I had tasted some of these bottles before, but there were quite a few that were new to me. The most exciting part for me was tasting some that I had never tried before. Now that I have written about and tasted them all, here is a list of my personal top five:

5 - Day 5: New Riff Bonded Bourbon

I thoroughly enjoyed ths Bourbon, even though I had tasted it before. New Riff makes some great whisky including this Bonded number.

4 - Day 15: Inchmurrin 12 Year Old

I have developed a great fondness for Loch Lomond over the past few years and this unpeated and fruity Inchmurrin only increased my love for what this distillery can create.

3 - Day 1: That Boutique-y Whisky Co. 24 Year

It was hard to pick a favourite from the four Boutique-y bottles in this years Calendar, but since I am making myself pick one the creamy, fruity and delicately peated 24-Year-Old Speyside gets the edge.

2 - Day 10: Kilchoman 2013 Mezcal Finish KWM Cask

I have enjoyed every single Kilchoman Cask that we have had bottled for KWM. This Mezcal finish gives the whisky a different style that was a lot of fun to discover.

1 - Day 16: Ardnamurchan Single Malt AD 01.21:01

It is usually the surprises that stand out for me the most, and this Ardnamurchan did just that. I had heard from Curt and Andrew how good this remote Highland distillery's whisky is, but when I finally tasted it for myself I was still blown away. Like the Loch Lomond 18 Year Old was for me a few years back, this is a bottle that Ardnamurchan on the map for me. I am excited to tast more from them in the future.

This was a hard list to put together and there were quite a few honourable mentions that just gut nudged outside of the list. The Glen Scotia Double Cask and Old Forester Bourbon are both near and dear to my heart. I would have liked to make room for two other bottles from That Boutique-y Whisky Company (the Irish and the Macduff), but something had to get cut. On the peated side of things, I really enjoyed the Scarabus and Peat's Beast, as well as the Port Askaig 100 Proof quite a bit.

What were your favourites from the 2021 KWM Whisky Calendar? Do you have a top 5?

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We have a tradition of ending our Calendar with a special 100ml bottle from The Scotch Malt Whisky Society of Canada. If you have purchased and enjoyed our Whisky Calendar in previous years then this is not a revelation. Luckily, t...

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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 24: Balblair 1991 Vintage

Posted on December 27, 2021

by Evan

Christmas Eve has finally arrived, along with Day 24 on our 2021 KWM Whisky Calendar. We are going a bit older for this bottle. Open the door and you will find the Ballblair 1991 Vintage!

For many years the Glenrothes and Balblair lineups were the only Single Malt Scotch ranges released as vintages only. Both distilleries have eschewed the vintage bottling in the past few years and gone to a more typical line of age-stated releases. When the switch happened in 2019, Balblair's new range was launched. The age stated range we have now is made of 12, 15, 18 and 25-year-old bottlings.

Balblair is likely one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland, though it has not been open continuously since its inception in 1790. Also, just over a century after production started in 1894, the distillery site was moved about a kilometre North to make it more accessible to the newly built Inverness to Ardgay Railway Line. This allowed the distillery to take advantage of the freight transport for the much-needed coal and barley used in heating and production.

The distillery was mothballed in 1911 and did not resume production until nearly decades later in 1948. Since then, it has changed ownership a few times but was sold to Inverhouse Distillers in 2007. In 2019 the Balblair Single Malt brand underwent a full-scale revamp. Balblair remains in the hands of Inverhouse/Thai Beverages today and is one of four Scottish Single Malt brands owned by the company. The others are Old Pulteney, anCnoc (from Knockdhu Distillery), and Speyburn.

Balblair Distillery is located in the Northern Highlands, on the Southside of the Dornoch Firth and on the outskirts of a town called Edderton. Its nearest distillery neighbours are Glenmorangie, which is about a 10-minute drive going East, and the newer Thompson Brothers Distillery at Dornoch Castle. What lies on the Northside of the Dornoch Firth and is about a 15-minute drive from Balblair if you take the A9 across the Firth itself. If you take a 25-minute drive to the south along the A9 or via Struie Road and B9176, you will make arrive at Dalmore Distillery with Teaninch close by as well.

You could consider this bottling a library release. The 1991 Vintage for Balblair was first released in 2009 and had subsequent releases in the years after that. Our mini bottle here was part of the 3rd release of the expression and was bottled in 2018. The regular-sized bottles from this release are long since sold out, so this mini bottle version is the only one we have - until it runs out too. The whisky was matured in a combination of ex-Bourbon Casks and First-Fill Sherry Butts. Time to crack open that bottle and try the whisky inside!

Balblair 1991 Vintage 3rd Release - 46% ABV

Evan’s Tasting Note
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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 23: TBWC Macduff 10 Year Old

Posted on December 27, 2021

by Evan

We are on the eve of Christmas Eve, and we are going Boutiquey on last time for Day 23 of the 2021 KWM Whisky Calendar. This time we are off to the Highlands to check out a Macduff! Today's bottle is That Boutique-y Whisky Company Macduff Bach 4 - 10 Year Old.

Macduff Distillery was founded only around 60 years ago back in 1960 and Resides near the mouth of the River Deveron near where it empties into the North Sea. That puts it in the Highlands, just north and east of Speyside. Its nearest distillery neighbours include Glenglassaugh Distillery which is about a 20-minute drive to the west along the A98 as well as Knockdhu Distillery which is about a 25-minute drive to the south and west if you start on the A98 and then connect to the A95.

Like Knockdhu Distillery which is bottled under the name anCnoc, Macduff does not have official bottlings under the same name. Instead, it is bottled under the monikers The Deveron and Glen Deveron by owners John Dewar & Sons / Bacardi.

The Deveron line of whisky makes a portion up what Dewar's / Bacardi calls once referred to as The Last Great Malts lineup, though this may be in the process of changing. This range is composed of Single Malt Scotch from the five Scottish distilleries owned by the company. Beyond Macduff, Dewar's / Bacardi also owns the Aberfeldy, Royal Brackla, Craigellachie, and Aultmore Distilleries.

One thing that is definitely in the middle of a change is the look of the packaging for Macduff Distillery's Deveron bottles. They are going to be changing from the cool-looking green sea glass style bottles we have right now:

... To whatever the heck this is:

I will miss the old bottle look. My offhand guess is that the green sea glass bottle was a victim of Covid - there have been quite a few brands in the whisky, wine and spirits world that have had bottling delays due to glass shortages because the few factories that made the bottles were out of production for a while and have been unable to keep up with demand. Moving to a more standard clear bottle probably not only saves money but is also easier to source.

Whether you love or hate the new look, at least we can all agree it is good to see Macduff from independent bottlers like That Boutique-y Whisky Company. Shall we give this one a try?

That Boutique-y Whisky Company Batch 8 - 10 Year Old - 50.2%

Label Notes from TBWC

"The Macduff distillery was founded in the 1960s and is kitted out with five stills, four of which have lyne arms that are rather oddly arranged, with one of the wash stills’ lyne arms being U-shaped too, just so they’ll all fit in the still room! They don’t release whisky themselves under their own name - they release it under the name The ...

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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 22: Woodford Reserve Bourbon

Posted on December 22, 2021

by Evan

We are into record-breaking territory with Door number 22 of the 2021 KWM Whisky Calendar. This marks the third Bourbon we have seen for this year's calendar which is a high watermark for any of the KWM Whisky Calendar's we have produced so far. Or low-water mark if your name is Andrew and not Evan, but I digress! Today we have our own mini bottle of the Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey to open!

Previously in this year's Whisky Calendar, we featured the New Riff Bottled in Bond Bourbon on Day Five and the Old Forester Classic 86 Proof on Day Thirteen. Speaking of Old Forester, Woodford Reserve is owned by the same parent company as that Bourbon: Brown-Forman.

The Woodford Reserve Distillery is located outside of the town of Versailles, Kentucky. Nearest neighbours include Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky which is about a 25-minute drive to the south and Four Roses Distillery which is a further 5-minute drive to the south from there. All three of these distilleries tour info can be found on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail map here.

Commercial Distillation on the Woodford Reserve property dates back to 1812 and one of the buildings still in use at Woodford was went up in 1838. Over the 180-ish years since the Distillery has undergone a few name changes. It was originally known as the Old Oscar Pepper Distillery, named after founder Elijah Pepper. The distillery was passed to his son James E. Pepper but the Pepper family sold the distillery and property in 1878 and it then took the name of the new owners as the Labrot & Leopold Distillery.

Other than during prohibition, the distillery operated steadily under that ownership until 1941, when Brown-Forman purchased the distillery and property. Surprisingly (especially in hindsight), Brown-Forman sold off the property to a local farmer in the late 1960s. For years, only a farm operated on the property until Brown-Forman ended up repurchasing it and reviving the distillery in 1993. The Woodford Reserve brand was introduced to the world three years later in 1996.

Photo of Woodford's three stills cribbed directly from Brown-Forman's website.

The Bourbon we are trying today is the flagship from the distillery. Like most Woodford Reserve branded whiskey, it is made from a combination of the triple distilled Bourbon made at Woodford blended with Shively/Louisville's Brown-Forman Distillery plant which uses a column still. This means there is likely some shared DNA between this and the Old Forester Bourbon we tasted previously. beyond both whisky brands being owned by the same family company. Will we see a direct resemblance between the Woodford Reserve and the Old Forester 86 Proof? Let's find out!

Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon - 45.2%

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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 21: Glencadam 21 Year Old

Posted on December 21, 2021

by Evan

Since we did bottlings from Angus Dundee's Tomintoul and Glencadam Distilleries back to back earlier on Day Two and Day Three of the 2021 KWM Whisky Calendar it seems appropriate to do so once more. Today we are heading from our stay at Tomintoul in Speyside to the Highlands and Glencadam Distillery for the Glencadam 21-Year-Old. Would you look at that: a 21-Year-Old Whisky for Day 21! Maybe we do plan ahead sometimes at KWM!

The owners of Glendcadam and Tomintoul - Angus Dundee Distillers - is a family-owned operation. It was founded by Terry Hillman, a former Burns Stewart Executive, in 1950. For years the company was a blender and distributor of whisky until it entered the distillery ownership side of things by purchasing Tomintoul in the year 2000. Glencadam Distillery was purchased a few years later in 2003. Angus Dundee has now headed Terry's siblings Aaron and Tanya.

The company has been operating for more than 70 years now and it might just be one of the largest Scottish Whisky companies to fly under the radar with many consumers like you and me. According to this article in the Courier from 2019, Angus Dundee is responsible for up to 1/20th of all whisky exported from Scotland in bottles or by bulk in tankers as of that date.

That is impressive, but with that kind of volume and clout, how is it we don't see more pomp and circumstance regarding their distilleries' Tomintoul and Glencadam? I would say that the whisky they release is at least above par compared to some other better-selling single malts in the same price range. I do wish that some of the Tomintoul range was bottled at a higher ABV, such as the Tomintoul 16 Year and Peaty Tang that we have already tasted in this year's KWM Whisky Calendar.

Maybe their product line is stale and needs a revamp? This could be - I am not a packaging and label nut and I try my damndest to judge no book by its cover but I must say that the lineup for both Glencadam and Tomintoul is easy to browse past on the shelf. Maybe a raw, cask strength version from these distilleries would add some excitement? I personally would love to see a cask strength Tomintoul Peaty Tang or Old Ballantruan, or a high strength version of the 10-year-old from Glencadam.

One thing that would definitely help within Alberta and Canada is if Angus Dundee would not change importers every few years. Maybe add a bit to the marketing budget as well? Oh, and also offer single cask selections to liquor stores such as Kensington Wine Market? Just a thought.

You can tell it is Day 20 on the KWM Whisky Calander and we are entering crunch time because I am going off on more tangents. My tasting notes will probably get even weirder as well if that is even possible. Will that be the case with the Glencadam 21-Year-Old? Let's find out!
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